5 auto companies shut shop in India in last 5 years

In the last five years, five automobile companies have shut their operations in the country, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

MAN Trucks, General Motors and Harley Davidson are among the companies which have closed or reduced their operations.

"As per information received from Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the following automobile companies have closed down their operations during last five years:- i) MAN Trucks ii) General motors iii) Harley Davidson iv) UM Motorcycles v) Honda cars (the company has stopped its production in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh and made Tapukara plant in Rajasthan a unified manufacturing base)," Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Prakash Javadekar said in a written reply.

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Responding to a question on if the government is aware of the reports that the companies have shut down operations due to red tapism and high taxes, the minister said no such thing has been reported.

While General Motors has shut down its car manufacturing plant in Maharashtra, Honda Cars has done so in Uttar Pradesh, he said.

In September, Harley Davidson had said it will stop its sales and manufacturing operations in India. It later announced a tie-up with Hero MotoCorp to sell its range of premium bikes in the country and take care of service and spare parts requirements.

On the other hand, Honda Cars announced closure of its Greater Noida plant in December.

"To maintain sustainability of operations by leveraging production and supply chain efficiencies, the company has decided to consolidate the manufacturing operations for vehicles and components at its Tapukara plant in Rajasthan with immediate effect for all domestic sales and exports," the company had said in a statement.

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