E-Paper
Since Covid outbreak, industrial production in Mohali down by 40%
Failure to acquire raw material, reverse migration of workforce has further added to industrialists’ woes
Ever since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, the industry in Mohali has taken a severe hit with the overall production gone down by 40%.
The industrialists account the losses to a failure to procure raw material during the first and the second wave. Besides, the reverse migration of the workforce led to further losses, 30% of whom are yet to come back from their native states. Moreover, due to power and other issues, around 50 units have been shifted to neighbouring states.
There are around 13,000 micro, small and medium enterprises and 49 major industrial houses in the district employing 1.3 lakh workers.
The president of Mohali Industries Association (MIA), Yogesh Sagar, said, “For the past 15 months, the industry has suffered heavily. We were not getting semi-finished products due to the restrictions in other states. Also, 30% of our workforce is yet to come back, which has resulted in the production going down by around 40%.”
He further said, due to certain issues and power problems, around 50 units have been shifts to neighbouring states and most of them in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, he added.
Vivek Kapoor, the vice-president of MIA, said due to shut down, manufacturers were not able to sell final products and also there is an acute shortage of steel due to decline in the supply and very high prices in the domestic market, he said.
He further said, “The production had also gone down due to the non-availability of oxygen cylinders for manufacturing specially during the second wave. This has led to production going down by 40-50% in most of the units. Though things are coming back to track, it will take some time.”
Around 10 industries became operational in Mohali in 1978, growing to about 10,000 units, including manufacturing and IT/service industry. The Industrial Area is divided into different phases: Phases 1 to 4 fall under the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), Phase 7, 8A, and 8B under the Punjab Small Industries Export Corporation Limited (PSIEC), and Phase 9 under Punjab Infotech.
