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Nashik still too small for SSIs

SMALL INDUSTRIES IN MAHARASHTRA II

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Gayatri Ramanathan Nashik
Last Updated : Jun 14 2013 | 4:01 PM IST
MICO, ABB, LG, Siemens, Mahindra & Mahindra, HAL, Glenmark and Glaxo. A veritable cross section of Indian industry have set up base in and around Nashik. Add to this an SME base of around 3500 units catering to these big players. And yet Nashik is waiting for a take-off.
 
"We have everything""good infrastructure, plenty of power and water, skilled manpower base in engineering and even good weather for most of the year. Although Nashik is equidistance from Pune and Mumbai, we are still the weak node in the Mumbai-Pune-Nashik triangle," said Jitendra Shirke secretary of the Nashik Industry and Manufacturers' Association (NIMA).
 
Added Devendra Bapat, the NIMA president, "What Nashik lacks is the political patronage to push its case."
 
Take for instance 4-laning of the Mumbai-Nashik highway. The project has been hanging fire for years and only now is the work nearing completion.
 
Another instance of the lack of political will said Bapat, was the Pune-Nashik rail link.
 
"We have been pushing for this link for nearly 15 years now. But the government's response has been lukewarm at best." Air connectivity to Nashik too is only six weeks old.
 
And yet the city has received an investment of around Rs 400 cr in the last five years, according to a NIMA estimate.
 
While industry has grown around 20-25 per cent despite a number of units closing down, revenue from industry has grown by around 30 per cent and last year the city contributed Rs 120 cr in terms of octroi alone.
 
One reason for this spectacular growth is a skilled manpower base in engineering the city boasts of. It has nearly 700 companies with international quality certifications, presumably the largest number in any single city.
 
Said N T Ahire director Machine House, "The presence of large manufacturing plants has ensured that the city developed a pool of skilled manpower."
 
It was this manpower pool that attracted Sanjiev Kaushik to move here from Mumbai. "The city has a skilled manpower base in engineering that unlike Mumbai is also affordable," said Kaushik. Kaushik found the cost of doing business in Nashik diping by almost 10-15 per cent in terms of manpower costs alone.
 
The Confederation of Indian Industry is planning to promote corporate clusters, in addition to an auto cluster, in the area with companies like VIP, Crompton Greaves and Manhindra & Mahindra.
 
"The clusters will promote greater quality of porcessing among vendors, which when combined with our existing quality levels can only attract more and more big industries to the area,"said Bapat.
 
HAL's plans to develop a Rs 200 cr a aircraft maintenance facility for Boeing and Airbus aircrafts in Izar near Nashik is aslo expected to add to the number of units in the area. Already the company has 80 vendors units catering to its requirements.
 
Said Bapat, "What we need here are two or three big feeder industries which will promote more SME units." According to the third national census of SSI units conducted in 2002-03 Nashik district had 7185 SSI units, out of which about 75 per cent continued to be operational.
 
"But that can happen only when the state government takes up our case and actively encourages industry to set up base here. A sthings stand we need two or three big feeder industries to keep the current growth rate among SMEs," said Bapat.

 
 

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First Published: Jun 14 2005 | 12:00 AM IST

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