Maruti Suzuki to rev up its capacity next fiscal to meet surge in demand

New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki will expand annual capacity by 500,000 cars in the next fiscal year to meet a surge in domestic sales that has saddled the country's largest carmaker with a large order backlog, said parent Suzuki Motor. The company currently has a total installed annual capacity of 2.6 million cars across its facilities in Haryana and Gujarat. With pending orders for about 200,000 cars, Maruti said it is operating its factories at full capacity. It currently has about 12-day dealer inventory, including seven days of transit. This is less than half of the normal dealer inventory of 30 days. "Our bookings grew by 20% last month," said Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer, marketing and sales at Maruti Suzuki. "We are constrained by capacity and are calibrating our production every month to ensure that no customer- be it for hatchbacks or sedans or utility vehicles - has to wait for too long to get their vehicles." Maruti Suzuki dispatched 161,000 cars last month, up from 160,791 in February 2025. Suzuki Motor in a post-earnings call last month said, "Currently, we produce 220,000-230,000 units per month, with 170,000-180,000 units per month for India domestic, and about 50,000 units per month for exports, etc. Exports are in demand in Africa, the Middle East, and with expanded production capacity next fiscal year (two new plants), about 20,000 units/month will be added, which we look forward to." Maruti currently contributes 56% to Suzuki's global sales. Next fiscal year, Suzuki said it expects capacity additions of 250,000 units per year each at the new plants in India. While the second line at Kharkhoda (Haryana) is scheduled to commence operations in the fiscal first quarter, the fourth line at Hansalpur (Gujarat) is set to go onstream in the second quarter. "Since ramp-up production is necessary, contributions will be phased. Kharkhoda is expected to contribute from the first quarter of next fiscal year, Hansalpur from the second quarter," Suzuki said. On thin dealer inventory, the automaker said, "There is a risk that customers who cannot wait for delivery may switch to other companies, so it is desirable to secure inventory close to the standard level (about 30 days is desirable), but the situation remains tight, and we see strong supply-demand."