The Indian Express: Pune: Sunday, August 30, 2015.
While Chief
Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s government may be on a mission to encourage
investment in the state, documents sourced under Right to Information (RTI)
show that the state has been witnessing an alarming rate of closure of units of
late.
In reply to a
RTI query by the Newsline, the Directorate of Industries has stated that in the
last three years (2012-15), a total of 15,354 units in Maharashtra have closed
down. Each year, the state saw on an average of 12 per cent of units closing
down.
Directorate
of Industries keeps a tab on functional industrial units through the issuance
of eligibility certificates (ECs). These certificates are issued to micro,
small, medium, large and mega industries which allow them to qualify for fiscal
incentives. To qualify for the incentives, industries have to be operational
for a specific number of years failing which the incentives can be recovered
from them.
The last
three years saw on an average 12 per cent of the established units closing down
in the state. While 5,019 (12.55 per cent) units closed down during the
financial year 2012-13, 5,633 (14.22 per cent) and 5,525(12.77 per cent) shut
shop during financial years 2013-14 and 2014-15, respectively.
The closure
of units in the state and its ripple effects were also seen in the dip in the
number of workers, as reported in the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI). An
annual exercise carried out by the Ministry of Statistics and Program
Implementation, the ASI records the number of workers, factories, investment
and other details about the industrial scenario in the state. The ASI has noted
that the state had 12,03,023 workers during the financial year 2010-11, which
rose to 13,20,995 during 2011-12 but dipped to 12,33,341 for the financial year
2012-13. The ASI data for subsequent years are yet to be finalised, but
officers with the Directorate of Industries say they fear further dip.
“Last few
years have seen unfavourable industrial climate, which had led to these
closures. Especially hit were the auto, manufacturing and capital goods
industry,” said an official.
While the
present government might be doing its bit for revival of the industrial
climate, industry representatives say much is needed to stop such closures.
Nitin Bankar,
general secretary of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Small Scale Industries Association,
said the state government was yet to take a holistic view of the industrial
policy and had not taken any steps to take the industries in confidence. “Instead of trying to attract foreign
investment, the government must take steps to bring back the industries which
left the state,” he said.
The Mumbai
Pune industrial zone, Bankar said, suffered majorly from very high cost of
living, which has made it difficult for workers to live there. “Steps need to
be taken to solve the housing issue of workers,” he said.
Anant
Sardeshmukh, director-general of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries
and Agriculture (MCCIA), also said that the government’s intentions were yet to
translate into workable solutions. “We are talking about change in Factories
Act, changes in the labour legislations, but they are still in the draft state.
We need to see them in working laws,” he said.
.JPG)
.JPG)
