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Maruti strike enters 5th day, production loss at 4,200 units

MUMBAI: A strike at car maker Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant entered its fifth day on Thursday, causing a production loss of 4,200 vehicles, a company spokesman said.

He said Maruti, which sells every second new car in India, was continuing talks with the workers at the Manesar plant that makes about 1,200 vehicles a day, including the hatchbacks Swift and A-Star models and the DZiRE and SX4 sedans.

Around 800 workers began the strike on Saturday demanding the recognition of a new union, Maruti Suzuki Employees Union . At present, Maruti has one workers' union that is recognized by the management.

The production loss was estimated at 1.6 billion rupees ($35.79 million) as of Wednesday, with loss of 600 to 650 units each shift affected, the spokesman said.

Maruti, 54.2 percent-owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp , operates two manufacturing facilities in India, housing several plants, both in the northern part of the country.

It has been looking to advance its capacity expansion plans to meet demand in the fast-growing south Asian country, where vehicle sales grew a record 30 percent in 2010.

The company plans to invest $1.3 billion over the next three years on manufacturing plants to boost capacity and is considering locations in northern and western India.

Rising interest rates, higher fuel costs and increases in vehicle prices have slowed growth of car sales over the past two months.

Industry data released on Thursday showed car sales in India grew 7 percent in May, the slowest annual pace of expansion in two years.

Shares in Maruti, valued by the market at $7.9 billion, fell as much as 1.1 percent on Thursday, extending a slide into a third day.

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