Pump and motor manufacturers who have micro units here have appealed to the State Government to assist them with common facilities so that these units can go in for standardisation and better energy efficiency.
President of Kovai Power Driven Pumps and Spares Manufacturers’ Association K. Maniraj told The Hindu on Saturday that the unorganised pump and motor manufacturers constituted nearly 50 per cent of the pump set units here. Many of these units are unregistered too.
They are unable to go in for Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) licence or energy efficiency labelling for their products because of the costs involved.
Units that do not have BIS licence do not have excise duty exemption.
In order to help these units go in for better technologies, get BIS licence and improve the energy efficiency, the State Government should establish common testing centre here.
In 2010, the then District Collector P. Umanath had initiated the process for this, however it did not progress after that, he said.
The industries should be extended 75 per cent subsidy to purchase the required testing equipment.
A testing centre for raw material and pump set testing should be established.
The Coimbatore common facility centre operated by the District Industries Centre can be upgraded for this purpose, he said.
A raw material bank should be created in Coimbatore so that the micro industries can purchase raw materials from it.
They required copper, stamping plates, wires, steel rods, and steel pipes.
With price fluctuation, the units are unable to buy the required materials at competitive prices.
Since Coimbatore is a major pump set manufacturing hub in the country, a research centre should be established here.
Pump set is a seasonal business and in an effort to provide jobs for the micro units, the local bodies and government departments should give priority to these units and purchase their pump set requirement from the smaller manufacturers here, he said.
