Manufacturers want pro-industry government

Bogged down by a plethora of fiscal, monetary and operational issues during the past few years, the entrepreneurs in Tirupur are looking for a government that could give them a consistent pro-industry climate.

Interaction

An interaction with the cross-section of apparel manufacturers here reveals that they would be voting for the party which could assure them in the manifesto how the issues faced by the cluster would be sorted out in an effective manner.

Main issues

The industrial fraternity listed the main issues that have been confronting them, despite the repeated requisitions to the authorities highlighting the same, as complex taxation procedures, prolonged power cuts, high interest rates on bank credit, commodity trading of raw materials like cotton, frequent increases in fuel costs and lack of good quality transportation network.

Administrator

“An experienced administrator who can lead the country with a long vision is the need of the hour,” said T.R. Vijayakumar, a garment exporter who is the coordinator of Sripuram Trust formed of different stakeholders in Tirupur apparel cluster and also the executive committee member of Tirupur Exporters Association.

Interest rate

The apparel manufacturers cited the high interest rate on bank credit as one of the problems that could have been solved if pragmatic economical vision was there.

“In the pretext of containing inflation, the RBI frequently hiked the Repo rates that resulted in the increase of interest rates on bank loans.

Inflation

The net result is that industrial growth was hit badly as segments like apparel production are highly capital intensive and the inflation was never curbed.

“A government mechanism with a vision should have sat with the RBI and drawn a balance,” pointed out Raja M. Shanmugam, a garment entrepreneur and former member of Cotton Advisory Board under Government of India.

A dedicated railway freight corridor from Tirupur to Tuticorin port and infrastructure to accommodate the migrant labour workforce were some of the demands that the industrial fraternity wanted the next government to fulfil for them.