At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), India's largest passenger car maker, annoyed stakeholders reproached the company's management policies regarding the mismanagement and ignorance of Manesar plant workers' grievances that resulted in a deadly protest on July 18, 2012.
The disgruntled labour force entered in a brawl with the management that resulted in the death of a senior HR executive and left over 100 officials injured. The unfortunate incident lead to a 21 day immediate lockout of the plant, and costed the company millions in revenue and production.
The AGM was organised in the Capital and was flooded with fervid investors having aversive opinions about MSIL's futile actions and intelligence gathering. They were less than pleased about the company's settlement approach towards worker's grievances.
RC Bhargava, Chairman, MSIL, in reaction to the stakeholders' anguish said MSIL is still working on finding the root cause of the incident and quoted, “The violence at the Manesar plant was unprecedented in the history of Maruti and the Indian industry. There was no ostensible cause for this violence; there were no outstanding demands of the workers pending with the company”.
Bhargava also commented that the company may fail in its growth projection of 10 per cent rise in vehicle sales for the current fiscal year, 2012-13. He further added, “ We need to be a substantial diesel car manufacturer to gain fast volumes. We are expanding production as per the market demand, with the aim to get back 40% market share, but conditions are tough for the entire industry”.
Osamu Suzuki, Chairman, Suzuki Motor Corp. (SMC), arrived in the country for a week long visit to stabilise the situation and has appealed the Haryana government personally for finding the exact reasons for Manesar violence. When asked by some news-people about the incident at Manesar, Suzuki said, “We are introspecting on the reason for this incident and will address them”.
Reportedly, MSIL's earnings had plummeted to 23 per cent at Rs. 424 crore during the first quarter (Q1) of the current fiscal. Manesar unit's in-operation resulted in a forfeiture in production of about 30,000 cars and Rs. 1,500 crore in proceeds. The company has not seen a worst phase in its 30 years of operation.
