Non-availability of raw materials, delay in sanction of loans, deficient demand for the items produced by the small scale industries and non-availability of adequate amount of capital have contributed to the shutting down of 853 small units in the last 5 years. Out of these 56 units were declared sick.
Besides, non-adherence to the quality norms and non-availability of the required power at concessional rate have compounded the problem for the SSI sector in the state.
Apart from these small scale units, 101 medium and large units were also closed down during the last five years for the same reasons. The list of problems besieging the small and medium industries in the state further extend to lack of professionalism in management, natural disasters, lack of skilled workers, charging of high interest on the loans sanctioned by the bank and FIs and long delay in getting payments from the public and private sector undertakings purchasing products from the SMEs.
There is no provision in the present industrial policy for revival of the totally closed units. However, there is a three tier institutional mechanism for the revival of the potentially sick units. These are District Level Committees at the district level, Sub-State Level Inter Institutional Committee (Sub-SLIIC) and State Level Inter-Institutional Committee (SLIIC). It may be noted, 4812 industrial units were set up in the state during the last fiscal which included 6 large industries and 4806 small scale units. Combinedly, these industries provided direct and indirect employment opportunities to 24,922 persons during this period. The large units which were commissioned in 2008-09 included OCL (India) Ltd. located at Mania, MSP Metalliks Ltd.( Markutta, Jharsuguda), Action Ispat and Power Private Ltd. (Jharsuguda), Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. (Jharsuguda), Aryan Iron and Steel (P) Ltd. (Barbil, Keonjhar), Rathi Steel and Power Ltd. (Pottapalli, Sambalpur). The aggregate investment in these industries was Rs 6250.85 crore while 3926 persons got employment in them.
Similarly, 4806 small scale units were set up during the last fiscal against the target of 5000 units. The investment made in these units was Rs 227.93 crore compared to the target of Rs 300 crore. The number of jobs created also fell short of the target with 20,996 persons being employed against the target of 30,000.
While highest number of small scale units came up in Khurda district (2037), it was followed by Cuttack district (1816), Sundergarh (1589) and Bolangir (1339).
