Coimbatore Manufacturing MSMEs Protesting Against Raw Material Price Hike

The last few quarters have shown a very tough situation from the perspective of the raw material and input-cost price increase. Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Coimbatore are considering to make a strong protest against the rise in prices of raw materials.

M.V. Ramesh Babu, President of the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association said, “The prices keep fluctuating. Two days ago the prices of copper products went up INR 90 a kg and dropped by INR 10 or INR 15 after that. Can we change the prices of the products every day? We are unable to quote a price for our products. There is a lot of uncertainty. We asked for an appointment to meet the Ministers and have made several appeals. But there is no response from the government.”

The drop in prices benefits MSMEs while the hike in prices pose huge losses for the units.

“We need a solution to the issue that is on for almost a year. Hence, the industry associations here are in talks to decide on the future course of action,” he added.

He stated that many MSMEs have informed him that there are no orders this month owing to the high prices of raw materials.

It is suggested by the association that the government should imply zero rate on import duty and should ban export of iron ore and other raw materials.

The administration should provide subsidies to MSMEs for the procurement of raw materials along with GST based funding system for the small units to grow.