Sources said that one of the reasons for a slowdown in the company's sales was this stipulation. "Demand has been directly hit as many customers, who might be income tax payers, do not possess the PAN number and are not purchasing cars," the official said.

The slowdown has also forced Maruti Udyog to lay off over 800 casual workers at its Gurgaon plant during the past one month.

The company is also understood to have cut down heavily on the bonus and incentives, including overtime being given to the 6,000-odd regular workers at the factory.

Company sources said the casual workers, including apprentices in various training programmes, have been laid off to bring down the labour cost which is proving to be a major burden on the company.

"Since the production hasbeen sharply cut, there is no question of retaining surplus labour or giving overtime and bonus," said a company official.

Sources said the company has slashed its production level by as much as 60 per cent and has been clearing about 400-500 vehicles per day over the last one month as against the normal production/clearance schedule of over 1,000 vehicles per day.

The company, reportedly, has an inventory level of over 4,000 cars at its factory. Maruti is also understood to have scaled down the sales target for the next few months.

The company sold 31,063 vehicles in September 1998 as against 30,134 vehicles in September 1997. In October, the company sold 22,797 vehicles as against 18,395 vehicles in the same month last year.

Maruti enjoys over 80 per cent share of the passenger car market. Sources said the company's joint venture partners and vendors around the Gurgaon factory have also laid off casual workers.

The company produced 204,568 vehicles during the first seven months of the currentfiscal and sold 185,906 vehicles during this period, as against 178,402 vehicles sold during the same period last year. The company's average monthly production during the first seven months of the current fiscal works out to be 29,224 vehicles.

Sources said the demand for vehicles during the last three months of a calendar year is usually bleak as most of the customers prefer to wait for the new year model.