Lack of orders, workers hamper industries in Tumakuru district

The industrial establishments in the district, which have opened their shutters following relaxation of lockdown norms, are yet to begin production even after a week.

Vasanthanarasapura, Antarasanahalli, Hirehalli and Satyamangala are the major industrial hubs in the city. to be specific, Vasanthanarasapura, which lies on Chennai-Mumbai corridor is evolving itself into a major industrial hub. Tumakuru is home to 9,000 industries including small, micro and major units of which 7,860 have opened shutters. However, most of them have not commenced production.

While the industrialists plan to begin production with the raw material in stock, supply chain and logistics have proved to a huge challenge. The products made in Tumakuru were transported to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and some states in North India. However, there is neither any demand from the purchasers and no one has placed any orders. Apparently, in the absence of orders, the industrial units cannot be taken up any production.

To make the matters worse, most of the industrial workers from North India who were employed at these factories, have returned to their home states. Thus, lack of demand and manpower has crippled production.

Tumakuru District Chamber of Commerce and Industries H G Chandrashekhar said industries were faced with twin challenges of lack of orders and scarcity of workers. “Though some industries have orders they cannot take up production unless the orders are confirmed. Some have goods ready but there is no demand,” he said.

The industries need money for resuming production. The Rs 20-lakh crore revival package declared by the prime minister lays emphasis on industries. But, it takes time to reach local banks for disbursal. Moreover, people too not in any mood to purchase, as they used to do before. It may take another six months for the situation to come to normal, he opined.

There are around 100 granite-based industries in the district and 80% of them have not started production, said H B Rudresh, owner of a granite unit.

“We travel to Madakashira and places outside Karnataka for purchasing raw material. However, we cannot do so now due to ban on inter-state movement. We cannot rely on suppliers alone and our presence is necessary,” he said.

Most of the workers in granite industry are from North India. “Furthermore, the granite processing - cutting, polishing and loading - are all interlinked. None of these steps could be skipped. The production is hampered in the absence of labourers to carry out any of these operations,” he added.