The sharp fall in commercial vehicle (CV) sales has forced automobile giant Tata Motors to again shut its Pune plant for six days this month. The CV plant will be out of action from December 5 to 7 and again from December 26 to 28.
With this development, the plant would be shut for 12 days in total during this calendar year, which is happening for the first time at Tata Motors’ Pune plant in the last 10 years. “The demand for commercial vehicles has gone down drastically following unavailability of finance. This has probably forced the company management to go for another six-day block,” a top executive, who did not want to be named, said.
The move follows a similar six-day block at the CV plant between November 21 and 26. A Tata Motors spokesperson confirmed this development. “The CV plant will be shut for three days between December 5 and 7 to begin with,” the spokesperson told Business Standard. Sources, however, confirmed that the plant would be shut again for three days beginning December 26.
According to an agreement between the company and the workers’ union at the plant, the company can shut operations for a maximum of 12 days in a calendar year. The staffers would receive payment for this block period, it was stated. The company had also shut the commercial vehicles production for 12 days at its Jamshedpur plant recently.
Tata Motors sold 16,229 CVs in November this year, which is a decline of 40 per cent over 26,895 CVs sold in the year-ago period. The company sold 5,792 medium and heavy commercial vehicles last month, a decline of 60 per cent over last year’s November sales figures (9,653). The light CV segment also saw a drop of 16 per cent to 10,437 units in November this year, a company communique stated.