The BHEL Small Scale Industries Association (BHELSIA) has requested Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to form a high-level committee to analyse problems faced by MSME sector in the State and facilitate its revival.
As one of the biggest MSME clusters in Tamil Nadu, BHELSIA is prepared to take the lead and study issues relating to the sector in consultation with other associations and submit a viable proposal, its president Rajappa Rajkumar said.
Units such as the Tiruchi engineering cluster have started turning into non performing assets from 2016 due to economic recession that bagen in 2012. The two waves of the pandemic have caused further damaged to MSME units, which are facing a total disaster. Promoters and employees are finding it difficult to meet their day-to-day requirements.
Since the MSME sector is considered to be the backbone of the country’s economy because of the employment opportunities it generates next only to the agriculture sector, the association intends to seek an appointment with him to convey the problems being faced by the units in Tiruchi engineering cluster, Mr. Rajappa Rajkumar has said in a letter to the Chief Minister.
The total installed manufacturing capacity of about 450 small and micro industries is around seven lakhs metric tons per annum for fabricated and machining components. The cluster provides direct employment to 40,000 people and indirect employment to an equal number of them, the letter points out.
“Having been in existence for the past 50 years, the MSME engineering units have given Tiruchi a global identity as one of the best fabrication hubs in South Asia. Apart from domestic customers, these units supply components to foreign customers also. Tiruchi MSME engineering cluster manufactures the maximum number of wind mill towers in India,” it adds.
The MSME engineering units of Tiruchi have handed over 525 oxygen cylinders to the district administration and hospitals in the fight against the pandemic.
