General elections: Woes of micro units in Coimbatore remain unheard

A lot of micro and cottage unit entrepreneurs are diversifying to other jobs to support their families. The backbone of the industrial activity in Coimbatore is losing its strengths, says J. James, president of the Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Micro Enterprises

Micro units in Coimbatore need an elected representative who will take up their issues with the government | Photo Credit: File photo Siva SaravananS

A constituency known for its industrial vibrancy, Coimbatore has over 30,000 micro units that are run out of one or two rooms and mostly by the entrepreneur and his family members. Just about 5 % of the units are active now and even these run only till 5 p.m.

In the 2019 elections, the Goods and Services Tax introduced in 2019 was a major issue to the micro units that take up job works for the small, medium, and larger industries. The job working units had 18 % GST that was later reduced to 12 %.

“So far, not a single candidate or political party has reached out to us. Only the DMK has said that it wants to interact with the micro units,” said one of the representatives of the micro and cottage enterprises.

According to J. James, president of the Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Micro Enterprises, the GST issue remains unresolved, the micro units have not benefitted from MUDRA loans, 15 % capital subsidy that was available earlier was stopped a couple of years ago and the committee formed to revive sick MSMEs has not taken steps to support the micro units.

A lot of micro and cottage unit entrepreneurs are diversifying to other jobs such as running autorickshaw to support their families. The backbone of the industrial activity in Coimbatore is losing its strengths, he says.

C. Sivakumar, president of the Coimbatore Tirupur districts Tiny and Micro Entrepreneurs’ Association, said the pump industry must have seen peak demand between January and April. However, there are no orders now and pump manufacturers and their component suppliers are remaining idle. “We have just 40 % of the usual orders,” he says.

“Earlier, we used to get raw materials from Ahmedabad and Rajkot. Now, we get components and even finished pumpsets at a lower price. The raw material prices are high in Coimbatore. There is no raw material bank. There is no direct sale of raw materials by the manufacturers. We have asked for support multiple times,” he says.

The raw material prices should be brought under control and efforts should be taken to revive manufacturing activities in Coimbatore, he adds.

Whoever is elected the Coimbatore MP, he should be able to take up the problems of the micro units with the Union government, he says.