Maruti Suzuki India Limited has announced that it has registered zero sales in the month of April 2020. For the first time in history, the Indian automaker has not sold a single vehicle in the domestic market nor did it manufacture any vehicles for the whole month. This has been due to the reason that the Indian Government had imposed a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the country. Which is why all trade operations barring essential goods were halted and so was production.
“Maruti Suzuki India Limited had zero sales in the domestic market, (including sales to OEM), in April 2020. This was because in compliance with the Government orders all production facilities were closed,” India’s largest carmaker said in a statement.
Meanwhile, as the Indian government eased some operations in a phased manner, port operations resumed partially. Maruti Suzuki announced that the first batch of exports in the month of April 2020 consisted of 632 units which were shipped from the Mundra Port in Gujarat. The manufacturer stated that during the export process, all guidelines for safety were followed.
On March 22, Maruti Suzuki had announced to temporarily suspend manufacturing and sales of its models. The automaker saw a sharp decline of 47% in overall sales in March 2020. Maruti Suzuki has now acquired permission to start manufacturing at its plant in Manesar with only a single shift. By following the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Maruti Suzuki will be allowed to manufacture 50 vehicles a day while operating with a limited workforce consisting of less than 5,000 people.
MSI Chairman RC Bhargava had told PTI, “We will start operations whenever we can maintain continuous production and sell it (vehicles), which is not possible at this point of time.”
The active COVID-19 cases stood at 25,007, while 8,888 people have recovered, and one patient has migrated. The total number of 35,043 cases includes 111 foreign nationals, according to ministry data updated in the morning.
