Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) today said its total production loss since the go-slow protest that started in August, a result of their long-standing pay dispute with labour unions, has reached about 75,000 units, a loss of over Rs 300 crore. The plant has a daily production capacity of about 4,400 units and the company is currently utilising half of it. The majority of its 5,500 workers are now involved in the strike and HMSI has stopped taking orders for some of its models with the back-order touching 1.4 lakh units. With some dealers claiming a four-five month waiting period for delivery, HMSI is also losing some of its market share and sales to competitors.

With the pressure mounting, Shinji Aoyama, president and CEO, HMSI, said, “Early this morning, we started operating the new assembly line, which is the third one in our plant, which will help in clearing the 1.4 lakh back orders. To begin with, the third line would have a daily production of 300-400 units and we hope to take it to 1,000 units daily after some weeks.” At the same time, he said the company is trying to sort out differences with the workers’ union at the earliest but there doesn’t appear to be a clear timeline on when that might be.

“We are constantly in dialogue with the workers but do not know how long it will take for the matter to get completely resolved. Production has been hit badly and it’s not only Honda getting affected but every company attached to it is hit, including our suppliers,” said a senior executive from the company. HMSI has also approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking directions to the workers’ union not to disrupt production.