Maruti Suzuki may setup a facility in Africa

Maruti Suzuki is contemplating on setting up an assembly plant in Africa in bid to increase the exports from India. The exports of the Suzuki AStar to Europe have dropped in the past few months and the company is aiming to improve its numbers by exporting CKD kits to Africa.

MSI currently exports few models including the M800 and the Alto to African countries like Algeria, Egypt as CBU (Completely Built Units). Still the continent is largely unexplored by Maruti and they hope to double exports in the next four years. The domestic operations will also bring down the costs for the company, improving the profitability considerably. 

Speaking on the topic, MSIL chairman R.C.Bhargav said, “We will look at local assembly for two reasons, firstly, there's usually a tax advantage. And second, there's pressure from governments in these countries to assemble models locally.”

The traditional export market for MSI has always been Europe with 70 per cent of total exports heading up-North. However, the number has dropped to 30 per cent in recent past due to recession pressures, so the company is currently filling-up the gap with exports to countries like Indonesia, South Africa, Algeria, Morocco and Egypt.