Southern States - Tamil Nadu

`Implement licence fee hike after industry revival'

By M. Soundariya Preetha

COIMBATORE April 6. The Southern India Engineering Manufactures Association has pleaded that the hike in minimum marking fee for motors and pumpsets by the Bureau of Indian Standards should be ``kept in abeyance'' until the revival of the industry.

The vice-president, G. Rajendran, told The Hindu that the total number of motor and pumpset manufacturing BIS licence holders in this region included 272 small scale and 19 large-scale units.

The main products manufactured include monoblock and submersible pumpsets. There were nearly 30 varieties of motors and more than 500 varieties of pumpsets, including those used for agriculture and domestic purposes. The number of products manufactured by a company varied according to its capacity and market. There were a few exporters too. The domestic market was spread all over the country.

On an average each unit had at least three BIS licences. He said the percentage of increase in the marking fee varied according to the product. However, this was expected to increase the overheads by at least Rs. 25 for a small pump.

Mr. Rajendran observed that a survey conducted in Andhra Pradesh last year showed that the branded pumpsets occupied only 25 per cent of the market. With the increase in the fee, many SSI units ``might go out of the quality net'', he feared.

The SIEMA president, R. Vellingiri, in a communication to the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shanta Kumar, said many smallscale units continued to be under the quality net so that there was a quality guarantee and the customers were satisfied.

The upward revision will ``simply crush'' the SSI units out of the quality net. Mr. Vellingiri said while a Chinese mini monoblock pumpset was available at eight to 12 dollars, the cost of the same by Indian manufacturers ranged between 25 to 30 dollars.

He said the immediate solution was possible only through a tripartite meeting involving the Ministry, representatives of the industry and the BIS. The hike could be implemented after the revival of the industry.

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