Gillette Shuts Duracell Plant, 175 Take Vrs

Bogged down by an uncharged domestic market for alkaline batteries on the one hand and shrinking exports on the other, Gillette India has closed down its alkaline battery manufacturing plant at Manesar in Gurgaon, and will instead resort to imports.

In the process, most of around 175 workers at the Duracell India plant have been given voluntary retirement, which the company claimed has been accepted by the employees. A few employees have been relocated.

The Manesar plant will now be put up for sale, to either overseas subsidiaries of The Gillette Company, US, or other international players who may be looking at setting up a base in India or in neighbouring countries. A capital investment of around Rs 55 crore has been made into the greenfield facility since its inception in 1996.

 

The decision was taken following the observation by a fact-finding team that the Duracell manufacturing operations had become non-viable. The review and implementation committee was appointed by the board of directors of Gillette India at its meeting on December 21, 2001, with the mandate to prepare an independent report on the company