Maruti Suzuki Targets Sixfold Rise in Women's Enrolment at Haryana Manufacturing Institute

Maruti Suzuki India Limited said on Sunday it aims to raise female enrolment at its Japan-India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM) in Uncha Majra, Manesar, from roughly 5 per cent in the current academic year to 30 per cent by 2028-29, as the country's largest carmaker pushes to widen the pool of skilled women entering automotive manufacturing.

The company said it had introduced a full tuition fee waiver for women students from this academic year and was planning a dedicated women's hostel at the institute, alongside efforts to increase female representation among faculty and support staff.

JIM Uncha Majra is one of four such institutes Maruti Suzuki has established in India, the others being at Mehsana and Gandhinagar in Gujarat, and Sonipat in Haryana. The JIM network stems from a 2016 agreement between Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and India's skill development ministry to train 30,000 workers over a decade. The Uncha Majra institute, accredited by METI in 2019, offers courses across nine trades geared towards the automotive sector and follows Japan's Dual System of Training, which combines classroom instruction with seven months of paid industry work each year — an "earn while you learn" structure designed to ease the transition into factory employment.

Rahul Bharti, senior executive officer for corporate affairs at Maruti Suzuki, said diversity was central to building a well-rounded manufacturing workforce. "While talented women are present across the country, many remain unaware of the opportunities available in the manufacturing sector or have not considered it as a career choice," he said, adding that two women from the institute had topped Haryana's state rankings in manufacturing trades this year.

The push comes against a backdrop of stubbornly low female participation across India's automotive manufacturing base. A study by Good Business Lab, presented at the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association's annual session, found that women's share of the combined workforce across vehicle makers and component suppliers rose only marginally, from 5.6 per cent in 2023 to 8.7 per cent in 2025, despite years of stated industry intent to close the gap. "So far, no married women have enrolled in these courses. However, the programmes are open to everyone", Bharti noted.

Nationally, female labour force participation has climbed more steadily, from 23.3 per cent in 2017-18 to 41.7 per cent in 2023-24, according to government survey data — a trend manufacturers have been slower to mirror on their own shop floors.

"Female participation has increased, but only at Manesar. We are working to contsruct a women's hostel at JIM Uncha Majra, Manesar. Currently, JIM Mehsana has a hostel only for men. JIM Sonipat has just started the construction of a hostel", Bharti told ACKO Drive.

Maruti Suzuki has separately expanded women's presence in its factories this year, including an all-women quality-control line at its Manesar plant. Whether skilling institutes such as JIM Uncha Majra can meaningfully shift enrolment patterns will depend on sustained demand from women for vocational manufacturing careers, a segment that has historically drawn a small fraction of female school leavers compared with clerical or service-sector training. The company's enrolment target, if met, would mark a rare instance of a large Indian manufacturer closing that gap through structured vocational education rather than lateral hiring alone.