Honda started operations in the Indian market with Usha International of the Shriram Group back in 1997, the brand had invested close to INR 9,000 crore in Noida as well as its plant in Tapukara, but a recent report suggests that the Japanese car giant could be closing down the Greater Noida production facility and shifting the operation to its Tapukara production plant.
The Greater Noida plant started with an annual capacity of 30,000 units and was upgraded to 100,000. There were about 2,000 employees in the manufacturing unit and a VRS scheme is said to have been floated. The company now has half the strength in employees which could have been transferred to the Tapukara facility. Reports suggest that in December there was no production at the Greater Noida plant and the entire production capacity has been shifted to Tapukara which is capable of 180,000 units per annum.
Honda produced the Honda City, Honda C-RV and Honda Civic at the Greater Noida plant in the last month. Though the production of all the Honda cars is said to be on the new Tapukara premises the Greater Noida unit will still have a corporate office and R&D department which is expected to continue to operate.
Since the last two years, the Japanese manufacturer has been on a downtrend and COVID-19 pandemic only aggravated its position in the market. But since June when the manufacturing was resumed Honda has been climbing the graph showing signs of recovery, bringing the production number back if not better than pre-COVID era.
In the month of November 2020, Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) registered sales of 9,990 units in the domestic market against 6,459 units sales posted in the same month last year, registering a growth of 55%. The Japanese carmaker also exported 31 units in November 2020. The company’s current market share is around 3% and had the best performance with almost 7% market share in April-June FY-2015.