COIMBATORE: The strike by MSME and Open-End (OE) spinning mills due to several issues, including electricity tariff revision and raw material price hike, has resulted in the loss of over `350 crore in the past three days, Open-End Spinning Mills Association has claimed.
President of the association G Arulmozhi told TNIE that out of 600 OE mills in the state, 400 mills are taking part in the strike and around 500 MSME mills have stopped production.
“It’s a tough time for the mills now. Several factors such as electricity tariff hikes, raw material price hikes, low orders, an 11% import duty on cotton exports, and a spike in interest rate for bank loans, have affected the industry a lot. The announcement of 15% peak hour electricity charges for LTCT customers has been a huge blow. Also, the fixed demand charges have been increased from Rs 35 to Rs 150 and the electricity charge per unit is hiked to Rs 1.70 now,” he added.
Vijayakumar, treasurer of the South Indian Spinners Association, said, “All our members are taking part in the strike. Around 1.5 lakh labourers, who are working in these mills, won’t be affected as owners will pay them full salaries and provide them with food as usual. We have been holding talks with the government to sort out the issue at the earliest.”
While MSME mills are facing a loss of Rs 80 crore per day, OE mills are facing a Rs 40 crore loss per day, causing a total loss of Rs 350 crore across the state in the past three days, the representatives said.