Mahindra
Anand Mahindra, Executive Chairman - Mahindra GroupReuters file

Utility vehicle specialist Mahindra & Mahindra announced that it will halt the production of its vehicles for a few days in December in order to manage inventories and due to the recent demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. The Mumbai based automaker also informed that it will shutdown the production at some of its automotive and tractor plants in the country as part of planned annual maintenance.

"The company will be undertaking scheduled maintenance shutdown at some of its automotive and tractor plants in December 2016. The company further will also observe on need basis a few days as No production days at some of our automotive and tractor plants, including the Chakan facility as part of its efforts to optimise inventories during December year-end. We do not envisage any adverse impact on the availability of products in the market due to adequacy of stocks to serve the market requirements," Mahindra & Mahindra told PTI.

Mahindra is one of the major vehicle makers impacted with the sluggish sales in November post the festive season. The sales drop after the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes by the Government of India on November 8 further added to the sales woes. Vehicle sales of the company dropped 33 percent to 13,217 units in November 2016 in comparison to 19,662 vehicles sold last November.

Mahindra Scorpio and Bolero sales saw a decline of 41 percent and 42 percent, respectively, in November, on a month-on-month basis, reports ET Auto. The UV specialist sold 3,099 units of Scorpio and 5,257 units of Bolero last month. The status of the recently launched KUV100 and TUV300 is also not different. The compact SUVs witnessed a month-on-month sales drop of 55 percent at 1,183 units and 1,357 units, respectively, last month.

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