Export centric units seek government assistance

Export oriented manufacturing units in the State, particularly those in Coimbatore and the southern districts, has sought the assistance of Central and State governments, as their overseas markets were yet to fully recover.

While the manufacturing units catering to domestic markets have recovered to around 8 per cent growth, those catering to foreign markets were seeing just half that growth, Tamil Nadu Small and Tiny Industries Association (TANSTIA) president D.Gandhi Kumar told The Hindu. He was in the city recently to attend a felicitation function for a national MSME award winner.

Improvement in logistics such as better connectivity to the ports/marketing centres and simplification of export procedures would go a long way in helping exporters. Impediments in these sectors were having an adverse affect in the delivery schedule of exporters, he said.

“The Centre should also enhance stimulus packages and incentives on par with those given in other emerging economies such as China. Further, easy accesses to raw materials, credit and transportation for exporters are also needed,” said Mr.Gandhi Kumar.

According to N.Somasundaram, president, Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association (MADITSSIA), the problem of shortage was still persisting and also there is scope for further softening of interest rates.

“Deepavali season, which is the prime business time for textile sector, was not exciting. With agriculture struggling owing to poor monsoon and the larger economy yet to fully recover from recession, the business sector is still facing lot of problems,” he said.

P.Sitaraman, association vice-president, said that agriculture sector must be given a huge thrust to develop micro, small and medium enterprises. Developing them would boost food processing and allied sectors such as cold storage.

Automakers should be mandated to devote 30 per cent of their production capacity to manufacture farming equipment. Mechanisation of farming would help overcome the shortage of labour, he said.

“Banks are flush with liquidity now and yet the cost of finance has not reduced for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. It is still 60 to 70 per cent higher than what is available for corporate sector,” he opined.