Ten percent decline in demand from foreign countries
Aurangabad, May 10:
Bajaj Auto's exports have been hit hard by the economic crisis in Sri Lanka and the Russia-Ukraine war. With demand for rickshaws falling by more than 10 per cent, the company has decided to stop production of rickshaws two days a week, including weekly holiday, which has hit 1,500 medium and small scale industries in the district.
The economic crisis in Sri Lanka and the consequent impact on neighboring countries along with the war has led to a resurgence in the automotive industry. Bajaj's rickshaws are mainly exported to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Kenya, Ghana, Sudan and Nigeria. According to highly placed company sources, Sri Lanka has been facing an economic crisis for the past few months. Therefore, the demand for rickshaws from this country has decreased. At the same time, Bajaj has reduced the production of rickshaws by 10 per cent due to low demand from neighboring countries.
There are 200 medium and more than 600 small scale industries in the district which directly supply spare parts to Bajaj Company, while the same number are small scale industries supplying spare parts through vendors. Hence the shutdown of production has affected about 1,500 companies. Due to declining orders, they too have to stop production and reduce shifts.