South Korean auto major Hyundai Motor Company is reportedly looking to source a greater percentage of components from Indian suppliers for its global operations.

The company is currently sourcing only a negligible percentage of components from Indian for its global needs.

Hyundai Motor Company senior vice president (Asia & Pacific division) Young-Kil Chun said that India could emerge as a hub for the auto-components industry and would be interested in sourcing from Indian suppliers. He added however, that improvements would be necessary for that to happen

He said that the world wide slump had forced the company to cut back production at the Indian plants.

Meanwhile, the strike at the auto-makers took a new turn with police arresting CITU senior leader A Soundararajan leading the strike.

According to Police sources nearly 800 workers were arrested for holding a hunger strike without any prior permission. The agitating leaders and workmen were then moved to a city community centre. There were hundreds of workers, in
Hyundai factory uniform, logded in the community hall.

The workers have struck work since 20 April, demanding the registration of the union led by Soundararajan. They are insisting that a fresh wage settlement be negotiated with the union and the practice of concluding it with the internal works committee be abandoned.

They are also demanding reinstatement of all dismissed and suspended employees.

However, the strike has not led to any significant production loss according to the management but representatives of the labour union claim that the strike has crippled production at the factory.

Meanwhile the management is reportedly seeking to shift production to a European country due to persistent labour problems.
 
There are other reasons too including infrastructure problems, currency fluctuations and low export incentives industry analysts point out. They say the company was considering alternative production site for i20 to maintain timely delivery schedules which is an important factor for success in export markets.