India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) has reaffirmed its commitment to green logistics by surpassing a landmark of 2 million cumulative vehicle dispatches using railways, making it India’s first automobile company to attain this eco-milestone.
The company has rapidly scaled up its vehicle dispatches through railways from 65,700 units in FY 2014-15 to 447,750 units in FY 2023-24. Railways offer a congestion free, safer, and energy-efficient alternative to road transportation of vehicles.
Currently, the company dispatches vehicles to 20 destinations, serving over 450 cities using Indian railways.
“Maruti Suzuki pioneered the use of railways for vehicle dispatches over a decade ago by becoming the first company in India to obtain the automobile-freight-train-operator license. Since then, the company has systematically increased its share of vehicle dispatches using railways,” Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India said.
He further stated that through their sustained efforts in green logistics, the company has achieved outstanding results including cumulative reduction of 10,000 metric tonne of CO2 emissions and 270 million litre of cumulative fuel savings.
“With our production capacity nearly doubling from about 2 million units to 4 million units by FY 2030-31, we plan to augment the use of railways in vehicle dispatches, close to 35 per cent over the next 7-8 years. We stand committed to the government’s net zero emissions target by 2070,” Takeuchi added.
Earlier this year, under 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 has a capacity to dispatch 300,000 vehicles per annum.
The next in-plant railway siding is in progress at Manesar facility and will be operational soon. The use of Indian railways for vehicle dispatches supports the objectives of United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #13 focused on climate action, the company added.
