Though most of the 110 developed plots in the SIDCO Women Industrial Estate at Vazhavanthankottai are occupied by manufacturing units, the lull in production is palpable in the industries that are pre-dominantly ancillaries of BHEL.
The order books of BHEL had reduced after India became a signatory to the 2015 Paris Agreement that aims to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels by 50% in the next two decades and increase the share of renewables in the country's primary energy mix, including for power supply.
Since 2015, the ancillary industries dependent on BHEL had started making losses, according to officials. Earlier, BHEL used to supply the material along with the technical drawings. This model was successful till 2014. The decline began since then as the vendors were asked to conform to Away Centre Fabrication model whereby they had to utilise their own material.
Not surprisingly, the SIDCO Centre of Excellence at Vazhavanthankottai that was inaugurated in 2018 has not been put to effective use. Efforts by SIDCO to prevail over banks to start a branch in the facility have not fructified. Be it private or nationalised bank, the hesitancy is caused by the remote location, according to the entrepreneurs at the industrial estate.
The Vazhavanthankottai Industrial Estate Entrepreneurs' Association is learnt to have approached SIDCO seeking alllotment of space for establishing its office.
According to industry representatives, the government must come forward to infuse vibrancy into the Centre of Excellence through establishment of the paraphernalia for skill-training, and sanction funds for creation of a mini tool room.
Now that there are positive indications of future orders from private entities for the erstwhile BHEL ancillaries, the State Government must step in and enable the manufacturing units in the industrial estate to get into a state of preparedness, they emphasise.
