MUMBAI: India's biggest carmaker Maruti Suzuki will continue to operate at the troubled Manesar factory, and will build its third plant at the site by the middle of next year, The Economic Times newspaper reported on Saturday, quoting Managing Director Shinzo Nakanishi.

Maruti Suzuki stopped production at the factory on Wednesday after workers attacked managers at the plant and set fire to company property. It faces a shutdown that could last several weeks or more.

The violence, just nine months after the end of strikes at the facility that cost more than $500 million in lost production, spooked investors and raised the prospects of supply disruptions for Maruti's most popular hatchback, which is assembled at the 550,000 vehicle-per-year plant.