Maruti Suzuki plans to train 500,000 drivers this year, at its training schools around the country. Maruti has already trained about 1.3 million people since its Institute of Driving Training and Research (IDTR) was launched in partnership with the New Delhi government in 2000.
Mayank Pareek, chief operating officer (marketing and sales), Maruti Suzuki told our sister publication, Autocar Professional: “We are happy that we have touched two million people, but realise that this is only a drop in the ocean.” Maruti Suzuki manages six IDTRs including two in NCR and one each in Dehradun, Vadodara, Rohtak and Bahadurgarh, in partnership with the respective state governments.
These institutes offer learner and refresher courses, including those for commercial vehicle drivers. Maruti Suzuki also collaborates with its dealers who manage nearly 320 Maruti Driving Schools (MDS) across the country. These schools are equipped with driving simulators and offer a mix of class-room and practical training by trained instructors (including women). Over half of those trained at MDS are women.
The IDTRs and MDS also provide customised programmes for companies, women, the police and parliamentary personnel. According to Maruti, about 5,000 tribals in Gujarat, many of them landless workers, found jobs or turned entrepreneurs after being trained in IDTR’s residential programme in Vadodara, run in partnership with the Gujarat government. Maruti Suzuki also has the ‘Train the Trainer’ programme that helps further the impact of its Safe Driving initiative.