TN small, medium industries in crisis

Chennai, June 9: Thousands of small and medium industries in Tamil Nadu are facing closure rendering thousands jobless due to a number reasons, including the imposition of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), a government report has said. If one goes by the numbers provided by the state government — the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) have reduced by 49,329 units while employment in the sector has gone down by 5,19,075 persons during 2017-18. According to the Policy Note 2018-19, tabled in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, the number of registered MSME units in the state came down to 2,17,981 units last fiscal from 2,67,310 units in 2016-17. The number of persons employed in the MSME sector came down to 13,78,544 in 2017-18 from 18,97,619 persons in 2016-17. The investment in the MSME sector too, fell down to Rs 25,373.12 crore in 2017-18 from Rs 36,221.78 crore. The fall in numbers is drastic and was never seen in the MSME sector in Tamil Nadu.

“One of the major problems is the attitude of the bankers. Laden by non-performing assets (NPA), the bankers are avoiding lending to MSME units. In addition, they also demand collateral for loans even though the schemes do not insist on that,” Gopalak rishnan added. Terming the closure of 49,329 units as a major achievement of the AIADMK government in the state PMK founder S. Ramadoss said the closure and the reduction in the employment numbers in the MSME sector in last one fiscal is a very serious issue and cannot be brushed aside. Citing the absence of major industrial investments Ramadoss alleged that corruption in the government is one of the reasons for the investors to shun Tamil Nadu and locate their units to other states. (IANS)