Hinduja Foundries informed the Bombay Stock Exchange on December 22 that it would curtail the number of working days at its three units in Ennore, Sriperumbudur and Hyderabad.

These measures were resorted to by the firm to avoid an inventory build-up in view of the reduced offtake in the commercial vehicle and tractor segments and restrictions on the power supply in Tamil Nadu.

Managing Director V Mahadevan said, "Our offtake has reduced in line with declining demand from automobile majors since all of them are closed for the Christmas and New Year holidays. We have also decided to increase the number of holidays at our three units, which would be 5-6 days in a month.

Asked whether it would be paid holidays, Mahadevan said, "Workers will be paid according to the law." It may be recalled that on November 11, 2008, the company had said it was reducing the number of working days in all three units. The company had decided to observe continuous production holidays for five days a month along with the normal weekly holidays.

Earlier, Hinduja Foundries Chief Financial Officer V Shankar told Business Standard that the company had written to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board for uninterrupted power supply for two days.

Both these units will be closed for five days to save power. In a month, these units will work for 19 to 20 days. The exercise would continue till March 2009, said Shankar.

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