Bajaj Auto may soon resume production at its biggest plant; Hero Moto opens three units

Bajaj Auto, the maker of Pulsar and KTM range of bikes, may this week resume production at its biggest factory located on the outskirts of Pune, one the several districts declared as a Red zone by the Centre.

The Pune-headquartered company has been in talks with the local administration to restart production at the Chakan plant which makes high-end bikes for brands such as Pulsar, KTM, Husqvarna and also Chetak.

Rakesh Sharma, Executive Director, Bajaj Auto said, “Most likely, we should be able to restart production tomorrow (May 5) at the Chakan plant”. Re-opening of the Chakan plant will allow Bajaj Auto to recommence exports of KTM bikes to Europe and other regions.

The company has already secured the green signal to reopen its plant at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand which caters to the domestic market. The Aurangabad plant in Maharashtra, which handles a bulk of the exports of motorcycles and three-wheelers, has also been allowed to reopen in a restricted manner.

In April, Bajaj clocked exports of 32,000 two-wheelers and nearly 5,900 three-wheelers, all of which happened from the Aurangabad plant. Exports in April were about one-fifth of the average exports Bajaj Auto did every month last financial year.

The reopening of the Chakan plant will have to translate to a similar opening of plants of its parts vendors which are located in close vicinity of the Bajaj plant.

Sharma said the current commencement of production is being done using the parts inventory available with it. However, any ramp-up in output will depend entirely on the ability of vendors to supply the required parts if they are allowed to reopen plants.

Meanwhile, Hero MotoCorp, India’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, has stated intent of recommencing operations in a graded manner at three of its manufacturing plants – Gurugram and Dharuhera (both in Haryana), Haridwar (Uttarakhand) and additionally, the Global Parts Center (GPC) at Neemrana in Rajasthan.

These manufacturing plants reopen from today (May 4) and production at these facilities will commence from Wednesday (May 6). In April, Hero MotoCorp clocked zero production and zero sales to its dealers.

Pawan Munjal, Chairman, Hero MotoCorp said, “We are now ready to hit the ground sprinting as we commence the re-opening of our facilities. With meticulous planning and enthusiasm, we are set to recommence operations. I am optimistic that business and the economy will begin the trajectory of its gradual recovery from here.”

Hero’s other manufacturing plants have also obtained the necessary permissions to reopen and these will commence operations after most of the supply chain partners of the company get the permissions to operate, the Delhi-based company said in a statement.

Hero’s R&D facility – the Centre of Innovation and Technology (CIT) – in Jaipur has also received the necessary permission to reopen and will resume functioning soon.