Hero MotoCorp, the world and India’s largest two-wheeler company, recently announced that it is temporarily shutting down all its manufacturing facilities globally with immediate effect. The recent closure of the manufacturing is a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The company announced the closure through an official BSE filing, which read, “With the safety and wellbeing of its employees as the top priority in view of the escalating COVID‐19 situation, Hero MotoCorp has decided to halt operations at all its global manufacturing facilities – including in India, Colombia and Bangladesh and the Global Parts Centre (GPC) at Neemrana with immediate effect until March 31, 2020.”
The company further added that employees at all the other functions and locations including the Centre of Innovation and Technology (CIT) in Jaipur in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan will continue to work from home, except for those whose physical presence is necessary to run the day‐to‐day essential services.
The decision was announced by Pawan Munjal, Chairman, Hero MotoCorp, at a digital town hall to the employees. This is the first global closure to be announced by a major Indian manufacturer.
Furthermore, the company says that it has rolled out a number of measures to safeguard the safety of its employees to help contain the spread of the Coronavirus. A task force has been set up by Pawan Munjal to monitor the developments around the spread of the virus. The company said that it will review the situation on April 1, 2020, and then take a call on reopening the facilities. It’s not clear at the moment if there will be a pay cut for the employees during the period.
As India begins sees spikes in new coronavirus cases, many manufacturing facilities have been either shut down or reduced their production. Several automakers such as Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, FCA India, Volkswagen Passenger Cars India, and others have already directed their employees to work from home, while Tata Motors has also said it would shut down Pune-based manufacturing units amid heightened COVID-19 risks
