Toyota Kirloskar Motor shuts its car plants near Bangalore

“In the meantime, under the instigation of the union, certain sections of the employees have resorted to deliberate stoppages of the production line, abuse and threatening of supervisors thereby continuously disrupting business for the past 25 days,” Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), the car maker's Indian unit, said in a statement.

“All these unlawful activities have been detailed in the lockout notice. With this background, the company is left with no other option but to declare a lockout of the premises to ensure the safety of its workers and management personnel,” it added.

The subsidiary closed the factories on Sunday - a non-production day - and did not state when it will reopen them.

A Tokyo-based company spokesman said Toyota hoped to restart production quickly. But he could not give a timeline for any re-opening of the plants, which make a range of models including the flagship Camry sedan, the Corolla and the Prius hybrid.

The two factories, near Bangalore, produce about 310,000 units annually, mostly for the domestic market.