MARUTI SUZUKI EXTENDS PLANT SHUTDOWN DUE TO PANDEMIC

NEW DELHI: India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. will keep its factories shut for another week citing the coronavirus pandemic.

New Delhi-based company will extend its maintenance shutdown to May 16 from May 9 “keeping in view the current pandemic situation,” Maruti said in an exchange filing Saturday. Some activities will continue in the plants, the automaker said.

The prolonged shutdown comes just days after chairman RC Bhargava said in an interview to Bloomberg News that Maruti may halve its production capacity as the pandemic shutters some of its sales outlets in the country. The company had earlier advanced its planned June maintenance shutdown to May 9 to help divert oxygen to hospitals.

Large parts of the country are under lockdown to curb the spread of infection.