Dunlop India stops prduction at Sahaganj unit indefinitely

Kolkata, Nov 17(UNI) In a major fallout of the economic recession, tyre major Dunlop India stopped production for an indefinite period at its Sahaganj unit near Kolkata from today.

" The company has been badly hit by the current worldwide economic recession and in order to cope with the situation we have decided to stop production for a temporary period," a company spokesperson said.

He, however, clarified that the decision had been taken in consultation with the Workers' union and that there would be no closure, lay off or retrenchment.

At present, the Sahaganj unit has 1202 employees, who will be given a subsistence allowance of Rs 2,000 each per month till production resumes.

" The worldwide recession has badly affected the automobile industry. Ours being a tyre manufacturing company has been caught in a swoop with plummeting demand. The measure, taken by the management, was necessary more so because we are in a revival process," the spokesperson said.

Owned by the Ruia Group, Dunlop India has been through a revival process after it changed hands from the Chhabria Group. Both of its units at Sahaganj and Ambattur in Tamil Nadu had experienced eight year long closure since 1998.

The company posted net loss of Rs 4.10 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2008, against the net profit of Rs 38 lakh for the quater ended on Jun 30, 2008. Net sales decreased 5.15 per cent to Rs 63.92 crore in July-September quarter compared with Rs 67.39 crore in April-Jun quarter.

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