Maruti Suzuki's plant at Mansesar in Haryana remained closed on Friday as a consequence of the deadly riot on Wednesday in which a senior HR manager was burnt to death. A senior official said it was difficult to say when production would begin again.
Here are 10 big developments in this story:
Of the 97 people who were injured in the violence, 33 are still in hospital. Of these, four Maruti employees are in hospital, including one Japanese national.
More than 1,300 policemen are guarding the plant, which manufactures Swift, Dzire, A-Star among other models. The plant has a capacity to make 1700 cars a day. The loss from the plant being shut down is Rs 60 crore a day.
91 people have been arrested, all of them workers, on charges including murder and attempt to murder. On Wednesday, disciplinary action against an employee by a supervisor created tension at the plant. The management and the workers' union accuse each other of creating the riot that followed, in which parts of the plant were set on fire.
Human resources manager Awanish Kumar Dev's charred body was identified on Thursday by his family. The Japanese manager of the factory was also attacked.
Maruti says a more determined action by the state authorities in the initial hour when violence began could have saved the situation. It says the subsequent response from the government has been very strong.
Suzuki executives at the Tokyo headquarter of the company have confirmed that the production facility has not been damaged. They say their primary concern is the safety and security of employees. They are also likely to move the production of Swift and other diesel models temporarily to Gurgaon.
Maruti says it has not written off the Manesar plant, which has seen much unrest in the last year. "We are looking at expansion at Manesar, not shifting out of there," said SY Sidiqqui, COO (HR and Admn).
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is heading to Tokyo and is hoping to convince Suzuki executives to expand their operations in his state. Mr Modi will make presentation on investments in Gujarat
Suzuki executives say they are keen to establish Gujarat as their exports hub by 2015. In June 2012, the Gujarat government had allocated around 700 acres for Maruti's proposed plant near Mehsana. Maruti had said it would invest Rs. 4,000 crore to set up the new manufacturing facility in Gujarat by 2015-16.
Maruti will be the latest in a series of car manufacturers if it decides to set up base in Gujarat. Earlier, Tata Motors chose Gujarat as the home to the world's cheapest car, Tata Nano. US auto giant Ford's India subsidiary is likely to build its second manufacturing unit right next to Tata Motors' Nano factory at Sanand.
