Hyderabad: Small units down the shutters as biz takes a severe beating

Hyderabad: Micro, Small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) in Balanagar township are the worst hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With no aid from the government, several MSMEs and SMEs of Balanagar township, which is one of the major industrial estates located in Balanagar Mandal in the West Zone limits of Greater Hyderabad are closing down.

As private banks have also denied loans to these industries, private industries including Dayal Engineering Works, Sri Sai Engineering Works, Bharat Engineering Works, Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd, Dwarka Industries, Haji Industries, and MTI Industries are closed. These industries mostly manufacture stage tools including wipe-out tools, bending tools, trimming tools, piercing tools, and also make heavy stainless workshop tools.

Balanagar is the first industrial park developed in Hyderabad.,The units here supply engineering tools to the various districts, States, and countries. But from the past two years, these industries are going through tough times as they are unable to pay the salaries to their workers,and also their production is adversely affected due to financial crunch.With no support from the government, several industries were forced to shut down impacting the livelihood of thousands of workers, mechanical engineers, and migrant workers.

Balanagar Industrial Estate has about 8,000 workers and another 2,000 contract workers. Most of them are migrants hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa who are working in industries. With the outbreak of Covid, the industries began to suffer. In addition, due to the heavy rains that were witnessed in the same year, the industries were almost submerged, causing huge loss to the industries.

Apart from financial distress, these industries' major concern is land which was allotted by the government on lease.

To make Balanagar an industrial hub, the State government provided lands on lease in survey numbers: 121, 128, 124 in Balanagar. The 47 acres of government land was allotted to 65 industries for 51 years on lease. Later, it was divided into three categories depending on the expansion of industries.

An acre for A-category and half an acre for B-category industries and C-category was allotted for quarters on one acre of land. An industrial estate was fully established in the year 1968 in Balanagar. The lease provided to the industries expired in 2015 and 2016. The State government conducted a survey and identified 226 entrepreneurs.

Narsingh Rao Goud, President of the Co-operative Industrial Welfare Association, said, "There is a need for the government to allot space to those who are running micro and small industries.

Earlier, many took the land on lease from the government and have run the industries till now. But with the expiry of the lease granted by the government, the industries need more land and also the additional power required for the expansion of industries.

In addition, there are no loans provided by the government or private banks. The authorities are asking for a sale deed or lease papers."

For the past two years industries have been facing severe losses, due to which they are unable to pay the GST to the government. They demanded the government to reduce the GST and are asking for exemption from GHMC tax.

"We don't get loans from banks and there is no support from the government. The State government should take a special initiative and support the industries. Though the MSMEs ministry is claiming that it is providing support by providing programmes and schemes but those are not benefiting us with such huge losses," said Narsingh Rao Goud Co-President of the Co-operative Industrial Welfare Association.

The Telangana State Financial Corporation has 250 acres of land in Gajularamaram. If the government provides lands here that would help the industries to redevelop, " said Kuppuswamy, an industrialist, whose unit was shut down due to losses he faced in the past two years.