Telangana govt urged to boost mfg sector

Hyderabad: During the last 10 years, Telangana has achieved remarkable progress in sectors like pharma, biotech, life sciences, IT and electronics. However, there is no growth in the manufacturing sector. The Union government has been encouraging the manufacturing sector by introducing schemes like Production Linked Incentive (PLI) and others. The State government must also give thrust to this sector.

Sharing the recommendations on the ways to fuel industrial growth in the State, Srinivas Garimella, Chairman of Industrial Development Committee (IDC) of the Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI), and Managing Director of Daifuku’s Indian Subsidiary, Vega Conveyors & Automation Pvt Ltd, urged the Telangana government to focus on the manufacturing sector.

He said, “Earlier, public sector firms like HMT, Praga Tools and Allwyn had been supporting the micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Hyderabad by choosing them as the suppliers and vendors. As they were shut down, both the manufacturing and MSME sectors were badly affected, leading to large-scale loss of jobs in the State. The government needs to develop these sectors for job creation.”

Explaining further, Srinivas said: “If a big manufacturing company exists, it will help in surviving of about 300 MSMEs in the surrounding areas. Except one or two automobile manufacturing units, nothing had been set up in Hyderabad during the past 30-35 years. The State government must create a suitable ecosystem and incentivise the manufacturing firms.”

“The Telangana government must announce an MSME policy, and merge it with the State industrial policy. The industry bodies like FTCCI and CII will come forward to help the government in preparing this. The Union government has a separate ministry for MSMEs. Similarly, there shall be a dedicated IAS officer as the secretary of MSME segment in the State to have seriousness at ground level,” he said.

The ESI and PF amounts were estimated to be almost 25 per cent of the salary of a worker. If the State government bears that amount for the local employees, it will give a boost to the manufacturing sector. Also, there will be more compliance as everything will be on record. It’s a double benefit to the government and industry. Already, governments of Odisha, Haryana Rajasthan are giving such incentives to the manufacturing industry. Because of this, employment will be generated and improved automatically in the State. Along with this, the FTCCI’s IDC Chair suggested the State government to take up skill development initiatives to attract more manufacturing companies.