Ashok Leyland to halt production for up to 15 days in October
New Delhi: After its sales witnessed a major slump in August and September, commercial vehicles major Ashok Leyland on Friday said non-working days for all its plants may range between two to 15 days in October.
Sales of commercial vehicles have been declining since July and Ashok Leyland, one of the largest manufacturers of commercial vehicles, reported a reduction of at least 50 per cent in its sales numbers in September as compared to the same period in 2018.
"We hereby inform you that to align our production in line sales, the company's plants at various locations will be observing non-working days ranging from 2-15 days during the month of October 2019," Ashok Leyland said in a statement filed with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday.
The company had been announcing non-working days since August citing continuation of sluggishness and contraction in the commercial vehicle market.
The company maintains that the proposed shutdown is part of “corrective actions” are being taken to safeguard the interests of the company.
The decision by Ashok Leyland came days aer the company released its sales figures for the month of September that reported a 50 per cent drop.
Courtesy: www.deccanherald.com
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RBI keeps policy rate unchanged amid inflationary pressure
Mumbai (PTI): The Reserve Bank on Wednesday expectedly kept interest rates unchanged amid hopes of a global recovery on the back of ceasefire in the six-week-long US/Israel-Iran conflict.
The policy decision comes as a month and a-half-long West Asia conflict has disrupted energy supplies, shot up crude oil prices and created fiscal and inflationary pressures for import-dependent nations like India.
This is the first monetary policy review after the government announced a fresh inflation target for the RBI last month. The government has asked the RBI to maintain retail inflation at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side for another five years ending March 2031.
Announcing the first bi-monthly monetary policy for the current fiscal, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has unanimously decided to retain short-term lending rate or repo rate at 5.25 per cent with a neutral stance.
The rate cut pause comes on the back of the consumer price index (CPI) based headline retail inflation that moved closer to the RBI's medium-term target of 4 per cent at 3.21 per cent in February.
Additionally, the rupee has depreciated by over 4 per cent since the war, which has consequences for pushing up import inflation.
However, the rupee has appreciated by 50 paise to 92.56 against US dollar following announcement of the ceasefire by the US and Iran.
Based on the recommendation of the MPC, the RBI reduced the repo rate by 25 bps each in February, April, and December 2025 and 50 basis points in June amidst easing retail inflation.
India's retail inflation dropped to a historic low of 0.25 per cent in October 2025, marking the lowest level since the Consumer Price Index (CPI) series was introduced.
However, the rupee declined to historic low and crossed 95 against a dollar last month making imports costlier, raising fears of rise in inflation. Rupee touched a record low of 95.21 on March 30, 2026.
