Maruti to boost R&D in India, limit exports

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.(MSIL), country's largest car maker, has decided to breathe new life into its Indian operations. The company has planned to speed-up its research & development work in the field of designing new cars in the Indian market so that the mounting demand for its cars in India can be met. According to reports, the company has instructed its vendors and suppliers to focus more on speedy delivery of Maruti cars in India. With this, the company is now planning to concentrate more on the domestic car market along with limiting its operations abroad. The company is mulling over to limit its total exports to 15 per cent of the total production in the Indian market.

According to Mr R. C. Bhargava, Chairman at MSIL, the company need to rapidly develop its own capacity to develop and design products. He added that the company is investing heavily in R&D. He further elaborated that Maruti Suzuki, as a company, should perhaps deliberately not attempt to export a large part of its production, but keep its exports at about 15 per cent of output.

The company had recently announced that it is building a world-class R&D center for its Indian operations at Rohtak (Haryana). With this, it has also increased its investment on R&D operations in the country. Where in fiscal year 2008-09, MSIL's overall spending on R&D was Rs.91-crore, it was way higher at Rs.173.30-crore in financial year 2009-10.

Meanwhile, in a bid to capitalize on the rising demand for CNG run cars in the Indian market, the company has launched five of its most popular car models in CNG variants in the country that comprise of Maruti Eeco, Maruti Alto, Maruti Wagon R, Maruti Zen Estilo and Maruti SX4.

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