Date:04/02/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/02/04/stories/2005020402871700.htm

Back `Kit pumps are a drain on power'

R.Y. Narayanan

Coimbatore , Feb. 3

THE pump industry here, which has a major share of the organised market for the product in the country, has made a strong pitch for a crackdown on the kit pump manufacturers.

The industry also urged that while giving power supply, electricity boards should insist on ISI-marked pumps so that farmers are dissuaded from buying cheaper kit pumps that are not energy efficient.

Mr Jayakumar Ramdass, Vice-President, Southern India Engineering Manufacturers' Association, Coimbatore, told Business Line, that the size of the market for pumps for various applications was estimated to be around Rs 2,500 crore a year. Of this, the share of the unorganised kit pumps was around Rs 1,200 crore.

He said available figures showed that the power consumption of the agricultural pump-sets was 30,000 MW a year. Since the kit pumps consumed 30 per cent more power than the ISI-marked branded pumps, the loss was substantial, mainly in States where farmers were given free power. With the same power supply, the farmers would be able to irrigate 30 per cent more area or their power consumption could be 30 per cent less.