India’s largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki has faced much trouble in 2011 with labor strikes coupled with auto industry slowdown. In December 2011, the company reported a fall of 7.1 percent in its car sales in comparison to December 2010. Moreover, higher input costs and depreciating Indian rupee has resulted in a significant loss for the company and has contributed to a total production loss of approximately Rs. 2,600 crore.
The company saw dips in car sales starting from the labor unrest in early 2011 and by the month of September the company’s sales had fallen by 21 percent. In October, the sales fell by 53 percent and 19 percent in November 2011. It so appears that the company’s share in the market has been chipped off by its rival car manufacturers, some of which such as Tata and Mahindra have reported sales growth of 26 and 22 percent respectively in the month of December 2011.
