Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) will go ahead with the plan to expand its workforce, despite the slowdown in the auto industry. The company had recently talked about its plans to strengthen its engineering and design competencies by nearly doubling its engineering base, which stands at 560 today, to 1,000 by 2010. “We plan to take the total employee strength to 7,350 by the year end with the addition of 60 to 70 employees,” Maruti’s Managing Executive Officer, Administration S Y Siddiqui said. He also said that the company plans to hire another 30 to 40 employees in its Research and Development team, taking the total headcount in their team to 740 by the end of 2008.
This declaration by Maruti Suzuki India comes at a time when the global automobile industry is facing a severe economic crisis, with American auto giant General Motors (GM) being close to bankruptcy. Indian car manufacturer Tata Motors, too, laid off 700 temporary employees at its Jamshedpur plant recently.
