Maruti to invest ₹45K cr to double capacity in 8 years

Targets 4 mn annual output; new CFO to take charge on Jan 1

- SOHINI DAS

Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), the country's biggest carmaker, plans to invest about ₹45,000 crore to double its annual production capacity to 4 million units in the next eight years.

"The era before us is going to be very uncertain, very challenging... It depends on how inflation goes, but at the moment we estimate the cost to be about ₹45,000 crore for [additional capacity of] 2 million cars," MSIL Chairman R C Bhargava said while speaking at the company's 42nd annual general meeting on Tuesday.

Bhargava said he would also take up the suggestion by shareholders for a stock split with the board. "I accept it will certainly increase the ability of people to trade in [Maruti] shares, because the price of each share at present is around ₹10,000," he said. Shares of MSIL ended the day's trade at ₹9,634 apiece, up 0.4 per cent, on the BSE.

In order to execute its ambitious 'Maruti 3.0' plan, Bhargava said the company needed to reorganise and focus on different powertrains - electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, compressed natural gas (CNG), and ethanol.