By PTI

New Delhi: Unperturbed by the slowdown, the country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India is going ahead with its hiring plans and expects to have a total headcount of 7,350 by the end of this year.

“We plan to take the total employee strength to 7,350 by the year end with the addition of 60 to 70 employees,” Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) managing executive officer administration (human resource,finance and IT) S Y Siddiqui said.

The total headcount is currently at 7,200. The move comes at a time when the slowdown in the auto industry had made other vehicle manufacturers like Tata Motors disengage 700 temporary workers at its Jamshedpur plant.

MSI is also in the process of strengthening its research and development strength to 1,000 by 2010 as it seeks to develop R&D capability equivalent to parent Suzuki Motor Corp in Japan. “We will hire another 30 to 40 employees in our research and development team taking the total headcount in R&D team to 740 by the year-end,” Siddiqui said. At present, the company has 570 engineers working at its R&D division.