Royal Enfield's Cheyyar Plant Become's Company's First All Women Run Manufacturing Facility

By: WE staff | Friday, 6 June 2025

• The Cheyyar plant in Tamil Nadu will be Royal Enfield's first manufacturing facility to be entirely run by women
• Govindrajan B, the MD of Eicher Motors and CEO of Royal Enfield, made the announcement on LinkedIn

According to a LinkedIn post by Govindrajan B, CEO of Royal Enfield and MD of Eicher Motors, the two-wheeler manufacturer plans to make its Cheyyar manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu the company's first plant to be run entirely by women. The company's strong commitment to gender diversity and its efforts to provide more inclusive employment opportunities for women in the automotive industry are demonstrated by this initiative.

Women accounted for just 5 percent of our workforce when we started our diversity journey a few years ago. We've raised that to 20 percent throughout the organization today," Govindrajan stated. "Our workplace culture is changing as a result of this real progress." The company has already set up its first all-female assembly line, he added, and plans are in motion to turn Cheyyar into a facility run entirely by women.

There are other organizations working to boost female involvement besides Cheyyar. Of all Royal Enfield's plants, the Vallam facility now employs the largest percentage of women (26 percent). Women accounted for 24 percent of all new hires this year, helping the company surpass its gender diversity targets.

This change reflects a larger trend in the industry. More women are working in manufacturing in India's historically male-dominated automotive sector. For example, JSW MG Motor India, where women currently make up more than 31 percent of the workforce, wants to have 50 percent of its shopfloor employees be female. The company created history at its Halol plant in Gujarat when all of the women built the 50,000th MG Hector.

"When we took over the GM plant, there were no female employees," said Rajeev Chaba, CEO Emeritus of JSW MG Motor India, in reference to the change. However, we were committed to promoting diversity. We started out with a 30 percent target, and now, like nature, we want to achieve a 50-50 gender balance.

These advancements show that businesses are actively attempting to remove barriers and create inclusive workplaces in recognition of women's potential in manufacturing.