Looking to give 20-30% of pending industrial incentives to help with cash flows, says Ranjan
Hyderabad: The Telangana State Government has plans to expand the industrial park set up for MSMEs at Dandumalkapur on the city outskirts in about 400 acre now to about 2,000 acre. This will allow the existing industries to expand as well as attract new units or segments that are not present here, said Industries principal secretary Jayesh Ranjan.
He was speaking in a e-conference on ‘Making Telangana the golden State for MSMES’, organised by the FICCI. Ranjan said the Government of Telangana had planned to clear the pending incentives to the industries this year. The total dues were to the tune of Rs 2,100 crore and about Rs 1,500 crore was provided in this year’s Budget. However, with covid-infused lockdown hitting the State finances severely, the pending dues could not be cleared. The Government, in view of the difficulties the industrial units are facing, is now working to provide about 20 to 30 per cent of the dues so that all members get some relief. This will be taken for Cabinet discussion soon, he said adding that the financial strain is forcing the Government to borrow to pay salaries. He said a mechanism wherein the incentives will be adjusted against the payables is also being discussed.
Citing an instance of farming community facing shortage of gunny bags as their supply got stalled from West Bengal, the Telangana Government requested the manufacturers there to come to Telangana to setup operations here. Two companies have agreed to come here once the situation returns to normalcy and the Government agreed to provide land at concessional rates. The bigger assurance from the Government came in the form of a 100 per cent buy back offer as this will cut the demand uncertainties, the official said urging the industry to focus on automation and mechanisation to reduce the dependency on labour.
“There have been cases of many industrial units not treating the labour with the respect they deserve. Some exploited them and defaulted on statutory payments like the EPF and health benefits. They have not paid for the over-time and have also resorted to salary cuts for varied reasons. All of these acts have resulted in the employees not having any emotional connect with work. If you have treated them well, they would have stayed back. If you have treated them well, they would make an attempt to come back,” the official said adding that an analysis of many sick units point out to the poor HR practices in the MSME segment.
SBI CGM Om Prakash Mishra said that banking industry is shifting its focus away from MSMEs to retail loans. Ficci Telangana State Council chair T Muralidharan, FTCCI president Karunendra S Jasti, ASCI director general Dr Nirmalya Bagchi and others participated.
