KOCHI: Dismissing apprehensions of scaling down operations of the HMT Machine Tools Ltd (HMTMTL) unit at Kalamassery, Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Steel H D Kumaraswamy on Monday said the Centre “wants to expand all units”, including the local unit, as part of reviving the Public Sector Unit (PSU). He also called for the cooperation of the state government.
“As of now, we want to expand the units. (For that) we’ll take the state government into confidence. Without the state’s cooperation, we can’t do anything,” Kumaraswamy said after visiting the Kalamassery unit. The minister’s assurance comes at a time when operations of the Kalamassery unit have been scaled down over the years due to a shortage of working capital and manpower.
Still, the unit managed to achieve an average operational profit to the tune of `6.54 crore per year between 2014 and 2023. Even in the 2020-21 financial year, when Covid hit industries hard, the Kalamassery unit managed to churn out an operating profit of `11.89 crore. This, even as the other four functioning units of the subsidiary of HMT Ltd have been incurring losses for several years.
The Kalamassery unit, which boasted a staff strength of 3,500 in its heyday, now has just 125 permanent staff. However, Kumaraswamy said employment generation at the unit is one of his priorities. “Their (state government’s) intention is to generate employment. Mine is also to generate jobs. Hence, cooperation is a mutual thing. We’ll work it out,” he said.
On his visit, he said, “The purpose of my visit is to understand the ground reality and collect all information as part of the revival exercise. Already, I visited other HMT plant facilities. We’re constituting an expert committee to provide guidance for revival measures...,” Kumaraswamy said, while ruling out privatisation.
No comment on land sale
Kumaraswamy said disinvestment is going on as part of the revival attempt, but refused to touch upon the matter of sale of land belonging to HMT Ltd. “Regarding the land sought by the state government for acquisition, the matter is pending in the Supreme Court,” he said.
Staff submits memorandum
HMT employees submitted a memorandum to Kumaraswamy, requesting immediate steps on seven issues – lack of (adequate) human resources, lack of working capital, non-modernisation of units, lack of R&D and business diversification policies, disparity in many matters including pay between HMT Ltd (parent company) and HMTMTL (subsidiary), non-disbursal of service benefits to superannuated employees and non-implementation of pay revision.