Tokyo - Toyota, the world's largest car maker, has halted production at its two factories in India amid a labour dispute regarding wages. In a statement, Toyota said it was left "with no other option but to declare a lockout of the premises to ensure the safety of its workers and management personnel".
Located outside Bangalore, the two factories produce around 700 cars a day. The lockout will affect 6,400 workers. Toyota said that over the past 25 days, "certain sections of the employees have resorted to deliberate stoppages of the production line, abuse and threatening of supervisors thereby continuously disrupting business".
Negotiations over a wage increase have been taking place for the past 10 months. Toyota's sales in India represented about 1.6% of the carmaker's total sales volume last year. The stoppage came as Toyota announced its biggest pay rise in 21 years for its Japanese staff. (FA)
