Japanese car maker Toyota has said that it will hire about 1,500 people for its Indian operations by next year as it gradually expands its production capacity in the country.
The company, which is present in India through a joint venture with the Kirloskar Group, is investing Rs 1,650 crore to ramp up its production capacity by one lakh units and for increasing the localisation of components by 2014.
“We will be hiring about 1,500 permanent employees by 2012 to meet our expansion demand. In addition to this, we will hire some contract workers also,” Toyota Kirloskar Motor Deputy Managing Director (Commercial), Mr Shekar Viswanathan, told PTI here today on the sidelines of an Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) summit.
The company will hire people across various disciplines as the expansion programme gradually unfolds, he added.
TKM currently employs around 4,500 employees at its two facilities in Bangalore, of which 70 per cent are permanent employees.
At present, the company is expanding the combined capacity of its two facilities in Bangalore to 2.1 lakh units from 1.5 lakh units by 2012.
Subsequently, the capacity at the first plant will be hiked further to 1,00,000 units from 90,000 units, while the output at the second plant will be increased to 2,10,000 units from 1,20,000 units.
The company invested Rs 3,200 crore to set up its second manufacturing facility, with an initial installed capacity of 70,000 units per annum, which is now being expanded to 1.2 lakh units annually.
Toyota Kirloskar Motors had also announced plans to set up an engine plant and expand its transmission capacity at a combined investment of Rs 500 crore to cater to the demand for its Etios and Liva models.
The company will launch the diesel variants of its small car Liva and sedan Etios in India on Friday.
At present, the company has capacities in place to manufacture 6,000 units of the Etios and Liva every month. It will ramp up the production volume to 6,800-7,000 units per month by October, including the diesel variants.