Over 10,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) belonging to Peenya Industrial Estate, and several thousands of such units from the city and across the State observed a bandh on Monday to protest against the increase in prices of raw materials such as metals, chemicals, polymers, plastics, rubber and other items.
Bommasandra Industrial Estate, Machohalli Industrial Estate, Doddanna Industrial Estate, Thigalarapalya Industrial Estate, Ravendra Industrial Estate, Kachohalli Industrial Estate, Prakash Nagar Industrial Estate, Bengaluru Centre Small Scale Association, Bengaluru North Small Scale Industries Association, Rajajinagar Industries Association, Jigani Industrial Estate, etc participated in the protest by closing their factories and units.
According to trade body estimates, Monday’s trade loss of MSMEs under Peenya Industrial Area alone would be over ₹500 crore, while it would be a very significant sum for the whole State as some 132 industry associations affiliated to Kassia, five industrial associations from Belagavi Industrial Estate, Banglore Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Mysore Industrial Estate and several other industry associations across the State participated in the protest.
“We are seeing a steep hike in prices of key raw materials, all metals such as steel, aluminium, copper, bronze, zinc, phosphate, and chemicals such as ammonium, plastic, polymers, and rubber. Prices have soared almost by 70 to 80% adversely impacting the operations of MSME units,” Peenya Industrial Association, President, Muralikrishna told The Hindu.
According to him, this increase is due to the unfriendly policies of the Central Government while the increase in import duty made the price scenario even worse.
“We want a reasonable reduction in prices of these raw materials and also a significant cut in import duty with immediate effect. Unfortunately, some kind of cartelisation is taking place to keep MSMEs out of the market,” he alleged.
Some 18 months ago, steel was priced at ₹46 a kilo, which is now sold at ₹73 a kilo; the price of aluminium rose from ₹185 a kilo to ₹300, copper ₹400 to ₹800, caustic soda ₹48 to ₹85, zinc ₹210 to ₹380. Similarly, prices of almost all raw materials, including iron, TMT rods, brass, stainless steel, etc have gone up by 80% or more than doubled, according to industry associations.
R. Raju, former president of Kassia, cautioned: “MSME units have been facing an existential crisis since many years. The pandemic made it extremely tough for them and many lost the battle and closed down. Now the remaining ones are unable to function because of the skyrocketing prices of critical raw materials. If this scenario continues, no industry will be able to survive.”
The industry associations have also demanded a reduction in fuel prices. Diesel is used in running several types of machinery and gensets used by MSMEs and petrol to run their vehicles to transport people and move materials. They also demanded an early refund of GST, simplification o bank loan procedures, relaxation on merchandise exports, implementation of public procurement scheme and extension of credit guarantee fund trust up to to ₹10 crore.
Machohalli small scale Industries association, secretary, Suresh N. Sagar said, “Large companies are constantly posting unprecedented profits and growing. Meanwhile, MSMEs are only declining, going through tough times and some are shutting down too. Neither banks nor the government support us.”
