Industries are looking at a gradual increase in orders as lockdown restrictions have been relaxed. But labour shortage is crippling activities, say MSME owners.
President of Coimbatore SIDCO Industrial Estate Manufacturers' Welfare Association P. Nallathambi said that workers from other States are returning by trains. However, regular train service is yet to resume from all States and cities. Hence, many workers in Uttar Pradesh or Bihar travel to New Delhi and take a train from there to come to Chennai and from there to Coimbatore. If trains services are available at pre-COVID frequency, more workers will be able to return.
The factories are able to operate partially with the available workforce. It needs to be seen if all the units will have orders to operate at full capacity if all the workers return, he said.
Coimbatore District Small Industries Association president R. Ramamurthy said only 25 % of the migrant workers who went home during lockdown have come back to Coimbatore. Not all the MSMEs have the resources to spend huge amounts to bring the workers back. Hence, train services should be increased across the country. The industries face at least 50 % labour shortage and many of them are skilled workers, he said.
Mr. Nallathambi added that the district administration is collecting data of migrant workers from the industries. All the industries have been asked to share details such as name, home State, Aadhaar number of the migrant workers with the Revenue Department and this is an on-going exercise.
Apart from the labour problem, he said that one of the demands of the MSMEs was financial support. The Tamil Nadu government has recently said that industries that have taken loan from Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation (TIIC) need to pay only 6 % interest. Earlier, the units were paying 12.2 % interest and 6 % was reimbursed. Now, the units have to pay only 6 % and the remaining will be borne by the State government.
This facility is available till March next year. The government should extend it for a year, he said.