After the Coronavirus Pandemic hit and India was forced to go under lockdown, all car manufacturers stopped manufacturing in the final week of March 2020. With operations halted all through April, manufacturers are now being given the green light to resume production in a limited capacity. While many automakers have announced that they have restarted production, Honda Cars says it has been forced to delay its plans slightly.
Rajesh Goel, Sr Vice President & Director, Marketing & Sales, Honda Cars India, said, “With the new relaxations rolled out by the government, we were planning to restart operations in our Tapukara plant in Rajasthan sometime next week following the norms laid down by the Central and State Government as well as the local authorities.” Goel mentioned that several associates had come to the plant for preparatory work including equipment check, training protocols and safety declaration.
Honda Cars India has two manufacturing facilities, one in Tapukara, Rajasthan and one in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Both pants had halted manufacturing in March 2020 when the lockdown was imposed. While Honda has received the green light from the state government of Rajasthan to resume manufacturing in Tapukara and aims to begin from next week. However, it has run into a snag. Goel said that workforce at the Tapukara plant resides in the nearby neighbourhoods of Dharuhera, Rewari. In order to resume production even at a lower level in a single shift, the manufacturer is finding it difficult to find the manpower to start production as planned. Goel confirmed that the manufacturer is currently evaluating the situation, along with its supply chain’s position, closely to take a decision on when to start production.
As Greater Noida has been a hotspot for the virus for some time, Honda’s the plant has not received the necessary permissions from the Uttar Pradesh Government. It plans to resume operations once the authorities give the green light.