Thousands of employees working in the forging industry have signed up in support of a campaign to draw the attention of the policy makers at the state and national levels.
The forging industry, which is among the worst-hit due to the recent global economic meltdown, has been seeking relief to help save the industry and the livelihood of its 200,000-plus workforce. The industry is predominantly made up of over 700 units in the SME sector and is clustered around the 3 auto hubs – Chennai, Pune and Ludhiana.
The ‘Association of Indian Forging Industry’ (with 161 registered members),recently launched the signature campaign to mobilize support of the work force who have been directly affected by the recurring issues and problems.
Taking its appeal to a larger audience, the AIFI has displayed the signature campaign appeal message and the physical signatures on a large graffiti wall at the Super Auto Forge factory premises at Chennai and Press Club of Pune at Pune.
Over the last several months, more than five units have totally closed shutters and many others have seen unprecedented production cutbacks. In all, more than 50,000 jobs have been lost across the nation.
In early 2008, it was the spiraling costs of steel which left the industry reeling. As the industry was coming to terms with the effects of the steel price spiral, it was dealt a severe blow due to the effects of relentless demand slump caused by the economic crisis.
AIFI has sought various measures from the national and state governments which would help save the industry. Key among them are: more aggressive initiatives to boost demand in the infrastructure and auto sector, softer financing from the banking industry and increase in export benefits, mainly DEPB benefits for the forged components.
