Taloja industrial exports surpass Rs 7,000 crore

Encouraging attitude of state government, better connectivity and setting up of large scale industries have proved beneficial for the industrial belt in Taloja.

The annual turnover of the industries here has reached Rs 32,000 crore and exports have surpassed Rs 7,000 crore, said industrialists.

"Infrastructure in the Panvel area has improved in the past years.The Jawaharlal Nehru Port has played a significant role in the growth. There are around 90 per cent units which focus only on exports," said Anil Bhingarkar, general secretary, Taloja Manufacturers' Association (TMA).

Companies such as Owens Corning (OC), Kelloggs and Indo-German Petrochemicals Ltd (IGPL) have bolstered growth.

"Ten years back, there was hardly any export. But because of these large units the export is rising. For some of these units it is more than Rs 1000 crore plus," Bhingarkar said.

Spread over an area of 800 hectare, the belt has 650 industrial units.

There are around 25 large scale industries, 60 medium scale and the remaining are small scale industries (SSIs).

"The SSIs' contribution in the export is around Rs 1,500 crore. And it is also expected to go up gradually," he added.

On Value Added Tax (VAT), Bhingarkar said," Earlier some industrial areas in the country were exempted from the sales tax. But now with VAT, the tax has to be paid by all, we can compete with other industries.Quality and quantity is something which matters now."