Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) here have urged the Centre to permit them to import raw materials without duty.
Minister for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Narayan Rane and Minister of State Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma met representatives of the MSME associations here on Thursday.
With high raw material prices taking a toll on production, the associations demanded permission to import raw materials without duty, a ban on the export of all raw materials, including iron, iron ore, paper and copper, and opening of a SAIL yard here.
The Minister said steps would be taken to open a SAIL yard here, said Coimbatore District Small Industries Association president M.V. Ramesh Babu.
Coimbatore MP P.R. Natarajan urged the Ministers to take steps to reduce the GST for job-working engineering units. He also demanded measures to reduce the raw material prices for the MSMEs.
Run for Coir
On Friday, nearly 1,600 people took part in a ‘Run for Coir’, organised by the Coir Board and the Ministry of MSMEs here. The run was held under four categories — children up to Class VIII (three km), those of Classes IX-XII (five km for boys and three km for girls) and college students and men and women (10 km for men and five km for women). Mr. Rane and Mr. Verma flagged off the run. The winners took home a total cash prize of ₹1.2 lakh.
The Ministers also visited Pollachi Coir Cluster promoted by Coir Cluster India on Friday. It was approved in 2015 and production commenced in 2019. It has registered a cumulative turnover of ₹32.33 crore till March 31 this year. This includes a turnover of ₹15.16 crore during the 2021-22 financial year.
