Auto Industry Downshift Leads To Increased Idle Trucks

The auto industry has been facing a slow down for the past ten months in India. Production cuts by India’s largest passenger vehicle maker, Maruti Suzuki India, have left truck drivers without any job as there has been a drop in the market for trailer trucks, used to convey complete vehicles across the nation. Recently, Suzuki Motor Corporation has declared production cuts at its plants present in Gurugram and Manesar in Haryana.

With the auto sector in the middle of a slowdown, the logistics sector is suffering the heat. There has been an increment in loan defaults by fleet labourers, who have purchased new trucks. However, we can not just blame the automobile sector. With the Indian economy in the middle of a downturn, there has been an overall decrease in the demand for other types of freight, which has put an impact on the financial health of trucks.

Facing this uncertain future, Dharmendra Yadav said “I have been staying in my village for more than 15 days now, and I don’t know when they will call me back. My company used to operate 30-50 trucks in Maruti’s plant in a month, depending on the demand, but now hardly 20 trucks are plying. The salary was reduced to Rs 8,000 from Rs 12,000, and the long-distance driving allowance that I used to get has been stopped since there are no trips.”

Moreover, the new norms have progressed the capacity of commercial transportations by 15 percent on average. The resolution of automobile brands to convey vehicles through railways has also affected business. Due to the banking crisis in India, the financing options for fleet owners have also diminished.