Maruti Suzuki India has announced that its production lines are operating at more than capacity with demand outpacing its ability to produce. Domestic wholesales stood at 1.64 lakh units, the highest ever for any February, while retail sales rose 12% year-on-year to 1.51 lakh units as production lines ran at or above 100% capacity. “We are operating close to or more than 100% of our production capacity,” said Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (Marketing & Sales). “The numbers are not muted. Demand is not muted; supply is the bottleneck.”
Beating the Holi Shutdown
Network stock remains tight at 12 days, of which seven days are in transit, reflecting lean inventories at dealerships according to Banerjee.
With installed annual capacity of about 24 lakh units a year currently, at roughly 2 lakh vehicles per month the company has been stretching output, including Sunday production when possible, to meet demand ahead of the Holi shutdown. “Our team is producing vehicles even on Sundays to cater to demand, as production will be shut during Holi,” Banerjee said.
Popular models like the WagonR that saw February 2026 dispatches of around 15,000 units, is currently seeing over a month’s waiting period due lower production run in February. “We are calibrating our production every month by catering to each segment. We are not differentiating between customers across segments,” he added, noting that February saw a sharper focus on production of utility vehicles. Order books remain robust, with pending bookings at around 1.9 lakh units, up 20% year-on-year. “From April onwards, you will see a different scenario,” Banerjee said, pointing to capacity additions in the pipeline.
Road Ahead
A new production line at Kharkhoda in Haryana will be commissioned in April for internal combustion engine models, adding about 1.2 lakh units annually in phases. Incremental volumes are expected to be visible from May. On the electric vehicle front, capacity enhancement at the Gujarat plant is scheduled from July to support EV scale-up.
On geopolitical risks, Banerjee said exposure to the Middle East accounts for only 12.5% of exports. “It does not affect us for now, but we are monitoring the situation.