Maruti Suzuki has reached a significant milestone by dispatching over 2 million vehicles using Indian Railways, marking a pioneering move towards green logistics in India’s automotive sector. This makes Maruti Suzuki the first auto company in the country to achieve such an eco-friendly feat.
Since fiscal year 2014-15, the company has dramatically increased its use of railways for vehicle dispatches, scaling up from 65,700 units to 447,750 units in fiscal year 2023-24. Rail transport offers a congestion-free, safer, and more energy-efficient alternative compared to road transportation. Maruti Suzuki now delivers vehicles to 20 destinations, covering over 450 cities across India through the railway network.
Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director and CEO of Maruti Suzuki India Limited, highlighted the company’s early adoption of railways for vehicle logistics, having obtained the Automobile-Freight-Train-Operator license over a decade ago. He emphasized their commitment to green logistics, which has resulted in significant environmental benefits such as a reduction of approximately 10,000 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions and savings of about 270 million litres of fuel.
Looking ahead, with plans to nearly double production capacity to 4 million units by fiscal year 2030-31, Maruti Suzuki aims to increase the use of railways in vehicle dispatches to approximately 35% over the next 7-8 years. This aligns with their commitment to support India’s target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2070.
Earlier this year, as part of the PM Gati Shakti programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s first automobile in-plant railway siding at Maruti Suzuki’s Gujarat facility. This facility, capable of dispatching around 300,000 vehicles annually, underscores the company’s ongoing efforts to integrate sustainable practices across its manufacturing and logistics operations.
