COIMBATORE: The Union Budget has come as a mixed bag for the industries in the western region. While major industrial associations of Coimbatore welcomed the announcements, some MSME associations expressed disappointment.
SK Sundararaman, chairman of Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), said, “The announcement of reducing the customs duty on methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) used in the manufacture of spandex yarn from 7.5% to 5% will help enhance the global competitiveness of textile goods manufacturers using such yarn."
Mithun Ramadas, president, Southern India Engineering Manufacturers Association (SIEMA), said, “We welcome the setting up of industrial parks with plug and play facility and removal of basic customs duty for import of ferronickel and blister copper scrap.”
J James, president, Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Tiny Enterprises (TACT), said there were no reduction of bank interest to 5%, no subsidy announcement as demanded up to 15% for purchasing machineries, no industrial park for MSMEs in Coimbatore, and no changes in SARFAESI Act.
K Maniraj, president of Kovai Power Driven Pumps and Spare Manufactures Association (KOTMA), said there were no announcements for reducing GST for pumpset motors or raw material cost of copper, steel, aluminum and iron.”
M Jayabal, chairman of Recycling Textile Federation, said the budget failed to meet expectations of MSMEs.