Maruti Suzuki sets sights on 4 million units annual production capacity by FY31
The expansion — one of the most ambitious in India's auto sector — is built on the commissioning of 250,000 units at its upcoming Kharkhoda facility in Haryana and a 100,000-unit addition at the Manesar plant.
The company added that together with its current output from Suzuki Motor Gujarat and other facilities, Maruti's total installed capacity is at 2.6 million units at present.
The new plants will feature flexible manufacturing lines that can roll out vehicles across body styles and powertrains — petrol, CNG, hybrid, and electric. The move is central to Maruti's strategy of future-proofing its portfolio as the market transitions towards alternative fuels.
The firm is also looking beyond Indian shores. Exports, already on an upward trajectory, are expected to gain further momentum as Maruti eyes new geographies, including Europe.
Analysts said that the timing is spot on. As rivals sharpen their EV and SUV playbooks, Maruti's capacity buildout, combined with a wave of new product launches, could help the company defend — and even grow — its dominant market share.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
27 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: No bitter memories
Chocolate is the smell of my childhood. I would wake up every morning to chocolate aromas wafting up to the top of Mumbai's Cumballa Hill where I lived. On Peddar Road, at the bottom of the hill, in a not-very-large white building, was the Cadbury factory, and the aromas it exuded defined much of my growing up. (It cannot be a coincidence that vanilla is still one of my favourite smells.) Indian chocolate brands such as Manam use beans grown on Indian soil. As I grew older, the factory moved to the suburbs and the white building became the office. But they kept the bungalow next to it, where the managing director lived. In my early years as a journalist, I was once sent to interview the British MD of Cadbury in that bungalow. He was kind enough to take an inexperienced journalist seriously and explained that one of the biggest challenges in his job was keeping the prices of such popular Cadbury brands as Fruit & Nut low because Cadbury imported chocolate, and global prices were volatile. But because he did not want to disappoint the many children who loved 'Cads', as the chocolate bar was nicknamed, the company had evolved two strategies. The first was to create bars that used less of the expensive chocolate: The 5 Star was one example. This was a familiar strategy already employed in many foreign countries: 5 Star was probably inspired by the Mars Bar. Forty years ago, Cadbury was trying to persuade Indian farmers to grow the cocoa bean. (ADOBE STOCK) The second strategy involved a higher degree of difficulty. Cadbury was trying to persuade Indian farmers to grow the cocoa bean so it was less dependent on imported chocolate. The problem, he said, was that the Indian bean just didn't taste right when you turned it into chocolate. Experts from Cadbury UK had worked with local farmers, he said, and had managed to get around that problem. He thought that Cadbury would eventually be able to depend on Indian farmers for a substantial proportion of its chocolate needs. This was forty or so years ago, so there was nothing unusual about chatting to a Brit who lived in a lovely bungalow in the shadow of Cumballa Hill, about Indian farmers. And because the gobbledygook had yet to be invented, he did not use such expressions as farm-to-table or bean-to-bar or talk about Cadbury's commitment to Indian farmers or about localisation and carbon miles. He was a practical man, and his focus was on keeping the prices of his chocolates low enough for children to be able to enjoy them. I did not know enough then to discuss the decision to grow the cocoa bean in India from a historical perspective. Most food historians regard the story of chocolate as a prime example of imperialism in action. The cocoa bean was brought to Europe by Spanish invaders, who found it in South America. And the chocolate we buy today is a European/American creation. In 1847, JS Fry, an English company, invented the chocolate bar. In 1868, Cadbury invented the chocolate box. In 1879, Nestlé invented milk chocolate. In 1900, America saw the first Hershey bar, with its distinctive spoilt-milk taste. The Mars bar appeared in England in 1932. In African countries, governments force farmers to sell cocoa beans at half the global price. (ADOBE STOCK) All of these advances were based on a South American cocoa bean. Europe did not grow chocolate. So the big Western companies got the profits, while the poor South American farmers were paid a pittance. As the demand for chocolate went up, cocoa plantations were developed in Africa and in other colonies by European powers. All of the cocoa was exported to the factories of the West. That trend has continued. When you hear of the great chocolatiers of Belgium, rarely is the source of the bean mentioned. Switzerland, a country that grows no cocoa, has a global reputation for chocolate. Valrhona, a name that chefs revere, is a French company that buys its chocolate from the Third World. Nutella comes from Italy, where no cocoa grows. So, the Cadbury initiative to help farmers cultivate the cocoa bean in India was intriguing. They were not growing it for export. They were cultivating it for Indians. I thought back to my conversation with the MD of Cadbury because of two recent developments. When Manam opened a store-restaurant in Delhi, people queued up on weekends. The first is the rise in global prices of the cocoa bean. It has tripled over the last two years and hovers at around $10,000 a tonne. In many African countries, the governments compulsorily purchase beans from farmers at half the global price. This has led to a boom in cocoa smuggling, the creation of chocolate mafias and a rise in crime. It is another of colonialism's unhappy legacies. The second development that struck me was the frenzy that accompanied the opening of the large Manam Chocolate store-restaurant in Delhi. On any weekend, there are queues of people trying to get in. This is unusual because Manam, launched only in 2021, was not a brand that anyone in Delhi knew well. Nor is there any precedent for a chocolate place becoming such a rage. The connection between Manam and my chat with the Cadbury MD decades ago is the bean. While Manam does import some beans, its real claim to fame is that it mostly uses Indian cocoa beans. As Chaitanya Muppala, the 34-year-old founder of the brand, told me, they work with 150 farmers, who cultivate the bean across 3,000 acres. Chaitanya's father ran a medium-sized mithai business in Hyderabad; when he took it over, he embarked on a massively successful expansion, opening many new outlets and branches. He was not a chocolate nerd to begin with, but saw that the chocolate market was growing at 12 to 13 per cent in India and got into it. Ruby Islam is head chef at Manam Chocolate. They have 350 products across 50 categories. His big insight was that the Indian cocoa bean, introduced originally by Cadbury, could yield world-class chocolate. He worked closely with farmers on the soil, seed genetics and cultivation. He helped introduce better drying techniques (the laborious business of turning the raw bean into chocolate is often the key to flavour) and was involved with the process long before the raw material reached the Manam 'karkhanas', as he calls them. He was also willing to take big bets. Manam has over 350 products across 50 categories, and the size of its range sometimes seems overwhelming. Its large Delhi restaurant-shop resembles something Willy Wonka would dream up, and many of the hundreds of people who throng there each day come out of sheer wonder not just out of love of chocolate. Chaitanya now has successful restaurant-shops in Hyderabad and Delhi. I imagine Mumbai and Bangalore will be next. Everyone who has tried his chocolate only has good things to say, and his PR operation is superb and formidable. While he obviously does not see Manam as an industrial operation, most of which are based on poor-quality raw material, he doesn't see it as an artisanal operation either. He makes craft chocolate, he says. And what is craft chocolate? It's chocolate that is all about the bean and its flavours. A hugely successful chocolate company based on the Indian bean? Who would have thought we would get to this stage when Cadbury first planted beans in India? It's an amazing achievement, not just because the chocolate is so good, but because it reverses colonial history. This is Indian chocolate, Chaitanya says, made for Indians, by Indians from Indian beans. From HT Brunch, August 09, 2025 Follow us on
Time of India
27 minutes ago
- Time of India
IIM Bangalore launches PEVC research centre with focus on industry-academia collaboration
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) on Thursday launched the Tony James Centre for Private Equity and Venture Capital PEVC ), India's first dedicated Centre of Excellence focused on research, education and industry partnerships in the alternative investments centre is backed by a significant endowment from Mathew Cyriac, Chairman of Florintree Advisors and a 1994 PGP alumnus of IIM Bangalore . It is named after Tony James, former president and chief operating officer of Blackstone and a veteran of the global alternative investment initiative aims to bridge the gap between academic research and the evolving needs of India's private equity and venture capital ecosystem. The centre will support research, offer specialised courses, host industry-focused events, and serve as a platform for policy discussions.'As the Indian investing market evolves, I believe it will need innovation and sophistication that suit the nuances of the Indian market', said Cyriac who is also the cofounder of of Yali part of the contribution, four classrooms at IIMB will be named after faculty members who influenced Cyriac's academic journey. The CoE will engage with stakeholders, including students, young professionals, PE and VC firms, IIMB's academic and research community such as doctoral scholars, and limited partners (LPs) who provide the capital for investments, IIMB said in a his address professor Dinesh Kumar, director in charge, IIMB, said, 'The reality is that high-quality research is capital-intensive. To attract and retain world-class talent and to invest in critical resources like data and infrastructure, significant funding is required.' He added that the CoE will help the institute move closer to becoming a research-led institution of global standing.
Hindustan Times
27 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Your Type by Tanya George: This is how we roll
Those who hear the term Transport Type might immediately picture the bold, poetic, and religious motifs adorning India's long-haul trucks. And why not? Our trucks are legendary in their decorative flair. The Horn OK Please sign was on the back of every heavy vehicle until 2015. Other motifs endure: Florals, talismans, even full portraits of family or film stars. Across India, graphic design extends to buses, even human bodies are worked into the text. It's art on the move. Indian vehicular lettering shows off identity, local pride and linguistic play. And there's always a story to tell. In Kolkata, buses are painted as boldly and lovingly as any canvas. The sides carry hand-painted Bengali and English lettering, displaying route details, vehicle numbers, start and end points, all in flamboyant strokes and hues that capture the city's energy and history. These are visual signatures, each bus bearing the mark of its painter, driver, and community. Kolkata's buses are colourful canvases, capturing the city's energy and history. On the driver's door, you'll spot the iconic 'Pilot' text — always hand-lettered. Even practical elements, like signs for the Emergency Exit, get a decorative twist. It's swashy, ornamental and impossible to ignore. India's intercity and interstate bus services go all-out with vinyl lettering — stickers and motifs that are precisely cut to fit parts of the gigantic vehicles. One standout example: A bus meant to promote a women's exercise uses the lights on the front corners to serve as flexing arms, and displays the letters, YOGA, using human bodies. Cheesy perhaps, but delightful. It only exists because someone decided to put a women's-only exercise bus on the road! Language interplay is a bonanza whenever you spot it. On some buses, the word Aashirwad uses the Hindi substitute for A. It's a small example of code-switching in design, but oh-so-rich in cultural texture. Small rides also bring their own lettering magic. Tempos, which primarily deliver vegetables, often display cheeky names such as Mayank English Vegetable. What are English veggies? The visuals have the answer: Broccoli, courgette, red and yellow bell peppers. It's a playful nod to freshly delivered 'foreign' produce. Mayank English Vegetable illustrates all its modern produce. As some vehicles advertise their wares, others go sentimental. A tempo in Pune commemorated the owners' kids names on the back doors with swashy matras. In Kolkata, one tempo owner put his four daughters' names (in Bangla, in cheerful yellow vinyl), across the front with a heartfelt blessing on the top. It was route branding meets family pride. Mumbai's black-and-yellow taxis tell two wildly differing tales on their rear windscreen. The names of the locations either indicate how far they're willing to go (Panvel, Karjat, Kasara or other distant suburbs) or how far the driver has come (Bhagwangad, Sinhagad and other fort-towns along the Konkan). In a world trending towards bland uniformity, they remind us of the power of personal expression rolling by everyday. From HT Brunch, August 09, 2025 Follow us on
