Prompted by high interest rates and increasing input costs faced by the Indian automobile industry, Mahindra & Mahindra has asked its suppliers to work on cost-reduction and on-time delivery in a conference held in Korea in May, 2011. The conference witnessed a participation of around 150 suppliers from India and across the world.
A company spokesperson quoted the company desired “active participation for cost reduction”, “on-time delivery,” and building the “capacity and capability for future,” in terms of its expectation from its suppliers. The company also discussed issues pertaining to improving Tier II control and capability, sustainability of supply chain and designing capability from performance specification.
Expressing his satisfaction on the outcome of the conference, M&M Chief Executive Rajan Wadhera (Technology Product Development & Sourcing) commented, “The supplier meet was an ideal opportunity for us to discuss challenges faced by the Indian automobile industry such as impact of input costs, hike in interest rates and rising commodity prices.” Mr. Wadhera added the conference also provided an ideal opportunity to share and appreciate the efforts made by the supplier community to improve the image of the Indian Automobile Industry.
In the last fiscal year (2010), rising commodity prices had pushed up the input costs by 8-10%. A similar trend is expected for this fiscal year too.