Heavy downpour in Gurgaon takes a toll on auto cos

NEW DELHI: A normal or above-normal monsoon is usually considered a good sign by the automobile industry in India, which relies on the rural market for half of its domestic sales.A good rainfall means a bumper harvest, which yields more disposable income for farmers and improves prospects for car sales.

However, it's unlikely that anyone in the industry could have anticipated the disruption caused by the heavy downpour last week in the Gurgaon-Manesar area south of the capital, which threw the despatch of auto components and vehicles into disarray.

The region in Haryana is one of the nation's major auto hubs and home to Maruti Suzuki India, the country's largest car maker, Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India and a range of component suppliers.

The rain on Thursday provided relief from the prolonged summer heat and augured well for expectations of a normal monsoon this year after two successive rainfall-deficit years.

However, it led to severe waterlogging in several parts of Gurgaon and adjacent are as, causing prolonged traffic snarls as vehicles stalled or inched their way forward on virtually all roads in the city. Even National Highway 8, which connects New Delhi and Mumbai and passes through the " Millennium City," as Gurgaon is often referred to, was clogged.

One executive of a multinational car company's corporate office in Gurgaon reached his home in the city only the next day. For several companies in the auto cluster, the rain took a toll on attendance and production.

"The Thursday rain had come as a nightmare for our employees, including me," NK Minda, chairman of Uno Minda Group, told ETAuto. "People were stuck in traffic for six-eight hours while returning from work."