Royal Enfield’s Cheyyar facility to become its first all-women-run plant

Two-wheeler manufacturer Royal Enfield’s manufacturing facility in Cheyyar, Tamil Nadu, will become its first plant that is entirely run by women, Govindrajan B, CEO of Royal Enfield and MD of Eicher Motors , said in a LinkedIn post, highlighting its commitment towards gender diversity and making employment in the automotive industry a lot more accessible to women.

"When we began our diversity journey a few years ago, our gender diversity ratio stood at just 5%. Today, we’ve made significant progress. We’re now at 20% across the organisation. This momentum is tangible, and it’s transforming the way we work," Govindrajan said. In his post, he also recounted how the company is making its first all-woman assembly line. "We're not stopping there. We’re now working towards making Cheyyar Royal Enfield’s first all-women plant, with a 100% female workforce," he said.

The concerted efforts to include more women in the workforce go beyond Cheyyar. "Our Vallam facility now has the highest number of women employees at any single Royal Enfield facility, which accounts for 26% of the workforce there," said Govindrajan. The two-wheeler manufacturer hired 24% women among its new hires, surpassing its overall gender diversity target for the year. 

India's automotive industry, once a male-dominated profession, is witnessing a rapid change towards the initiation of more women on the shopfloor. JSW MG Motor India, for instance, has been making rapid strides towards its goal of having 50% of the workers on the shopfloor be women. It currently has more than 31% women in its workforce. 

As part of its commitment towards gender diversity, in its plant at Halol, Gujarat, the 50,000th MG Hector—its first car in India—was manufactured entirely by women. Rajeev Chaba, CEO Emeritus, JSW MG Motor India, had told CNBC TV18 in 2023 that the company had taken over a GM plant where there were zero female employees in the plant.

"However, we were determined to break barriers and push for diversity in our workforce. And we said, well, let's start with 30%. Now we are saying 50%. We say nature is 50 to 50. So, we should be 50% females, 50% males," he had added.