E-Paper
Himachal industries seek soft loans, electricity charge waiver to ease Covid-19 lockdown impact
Of the 54,310 industrial units in Himachal Pradesh, 140 are large and 628 are medium scale; they provide employment to 4.52 lakh people
SHIMLA: Amid the lockdown in Himachal Pradesh to contain the Covid-19 outbreak, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has requested the government to provide soft loans and waive electricity charges to mitigate the crisis being faced by industrial units.
Industries in Himachal Pradesh are going through a crisis due to the shutting down of operations and the disruption of the supply chain network. Labour woes, transportation cost, and the shortage of raw material have hit the sector in the hill state that was already reeling under the impact of the global economic slowdown.
“The CII strongly recommends that the demand charges, consumer service charges and meter rent, which form the fixed charges in electricity bills, be waived for six months that may be extended in due course, depending upon the situation, from March 2020. We have requested for the waiver on electricity duty for two years after the situation normalises, enabling the industry to revive,” Shailesh Pathak, the CII’s Himachal Pradesh State Council chairman, said on Wednesday.
There are 54,310 industrial units in Himachal Pradesh that have been set up with an investment of Rs 49,974 crore and provide employment to 4.52 lakh people. Of them, 140 industrial units are large and 628 are medium scale.
SOFT LOANS TO HELP
CLEAR SALARY BILLS
The body of industrialists has urged the government to provide soft loans of Rs 5 lakh to the micro industry and Rs 25 lakh to small and medium category entrepreneurs, enabling them to pay their salary bills during these difficult times.
The pharmaceutical industry of the state is grappling with the supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), which are mostly imported from coronavirus-hit China. One of the biggest drug manufacturers of the country, Himachal Pradesh has 350 pharmaceutical units in Baddi in Solan district alone.
The state’s industrialists raised their concerns with chief minister Jai Ram Thakur and industries minister Bikram Singh Thakur through a recent video-conference.
