Mony K. Mathew

Thiruvananthapuram , June 20

THE Kerala Government, while moving ahead with a new programme for facilitating the setting up of 25,000 new small-scale industrial units over the next one year, should nevertheless be worried about the fact that more than one-third of the registered SSI units in the State are either sick or potentially sick.

Of the 1.47 lakh working units, nearly 55,000 units fall in this category, according to the State-level report on third all-India census of small-scale industries.

The report, which compiles the results of the census done in 2002-03 and released by the Government a couple of days ago, also says that out of the 2.22 lakh permanently registered units, more than 74,000 units were found closed at that time. The reasons for the closure, among other things, were financial and marketing problems and the inability to survive competition.

Of the closed units, 48,000 units (64.16 per cent) were located in rural areas. District-wise, Ernakulam (14.88 per cent), Thiruvananthapuram (13.60 per cent), Kottayam (11.20 per cent), Thrissur (10.08 per cent), Kollam (8.57 per cent) and Alappuzha (8.24 per cent) had the maximum number of closed units.

In the case of sick or potentially sick units, the reasons cited for the state of affairs ranged from lack of demand, shortage of working capital and non-availability of raw material to power shortage, labour problems and marketing problems. The total fixed investment in the registered working units was to the tune of Rs. 4,943. 28 crore. As against this, the gross output of these units was Rs 6,456.76 crore. Moreover, 474 units were engaged in exports, which accounted for a total export value of Rs 735.71 crore during the period of census.

The employment in the registered SSI sector was estimated at 5.40 lakh, indicating an average employment of 3.68 persons per unit. Of the total employment, 64.60 per cent was in rural areas.

In terms of number of units, "tailoring services" had the maximum share, followed by manufacture of furniture and fixtures made of wood, cane and reed products and manufacture of all types of textile garments and clothing accessories. As for the market value of fixed assets, manufacture of furniture and fixtures topped the list, followed by sawing of wood and flour milling.

Apart from registered ones, there were 3.06 lakh unregistered units, taking the total number of units in the SSI sector in the State to 4.53 lakh. The employment in these units was estimated at 5.74 lakh and more interestingly, about 56.05 per cent of the units employed only one person.

In this category, too, the number of sick or incipient sick units was high at 91,000. Again, the same issues that plagued the registered units were found to hold good for the unregistered sector as well.

Both the registered and unregistered units put together, there were nearly 11 lakh people employed in the State's total SSI sector. And, they accounted for a combined output of Rs 8,100 crore during the time of the census.

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