Bengaluru: The Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA), a premier representative of micro and small industry in the state, on Friday expressed concern about the spate of bandhs and strikes that have occurred in the recent past. The KASSIA said that small and medium industries in Karnataka had incurred a loss of Rs 300 crore to Rs 350 crore due to the nation-wide bandh.
Expressing concern over the loss incurred by small and medium industries in the state due to the nation-wide bandh on Friday, A Padmanabha, president, KASSIA, said that industry body believes that labor must be payed a fare wage as an important partner in the production process but one must also take into the account the capacity of an industry to pay. “Micro and small Industries are seriously handicapped by the many inequities they suffer from the ecosystem. Though they provide jobs to the most vulnerable sections of our society, their ability to pay ever increasing wages is seriously jeopardized due to the market conditions. They are constantly pressured by the large industry and the multinationals to reduce their prices. They can barely survive on the thin margins they make, if at all,’’ Padmanabha said.
Stating that small and medium industries have no control over the cost of inputs which increase at 15 per cent to 20 per cent annually, the KASSIA president said the very survival of small and medium industries is at stake. “The small and medium industries, which had some protection earlier, are now exempted from such facilities thus exposing to the global free market which threatens the very survival of SMEs,’’ he said.
He said that today’s strike in all likelihood would result in the production loss of 300 – 350 crore rupees in Karnataka in the SME sector alone including Services. This is an unaffordable loss when the national output is not growing at the expected rate. We therefore would like to urge everyone including labour unions, to have a wider perspective. The labor can survive only if industries survive. While large industries may have the capacity to absorb the increasing wage costs, the SMEs may disappear from the seen if the ground realities are not appreciated by everyone,’’ he said.
Expressing concern over the spate of agitations or bandhs, Sudhakar S Shetty, vice-president, Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) said the latest strike is the fifth one in 40 days. “We are not against workers demanding for fair wages. They also needed decent wages to maintain their families and lead happy life but frequent agitations and bandhs at regular intervals are not the solution. The state government has lost commercial tax of Rs 160 crore. The total loss for the small and medium industries will be more than Rs 200 crore,’’ Shetty said.
