Maha govt forms committee to re-start closed SMEs

Pushing forward its agenda of making the state industry-friendly and to generate employment, the Maharashtra government has formed a committee that will look into the causes of closure of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in Vidarbha and Marathwada region.
State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, who heads the committee, said that there are a total of 2,54,050 small scale industries in the state, of which 30,549 are closed.
"There are three reasons that caused these industries to close. They either have outdated machinery, which cannot be used anymore for production of goods or their dues are not paid on time, for which their connections are taken off. For instance, there are industries, which have huge electricity bills pending or outstanding VAT or other taxes," Mungantiwar told PTI.

"Another important reason for their closure is that they do not get the loan required to upgrade their business. This makes industry owners completely stop all activities to avoid losses," he added.
Mungantiwar said that representatives from small-scale industries and government officials are part of the committee, which is supposed to submit its report within four months to start closed-down industrial units.
The panel will look into the causes of closure of industries after visiting all districts in the Vidarbha and Marathwada region. It will then prepare a report, based on which we will make changes in the policy, he said.

"As part of the 'Make in Maharashtra' campaign being run by our government, if we can get at least half the old closed industries to restart operations, while focusing on new ones, it would generate a lot of employment," the minister added.
He opined that one of the reasons for farmers' suicides is lack of employment and that small-scale Industries will play a big role in curbing these tragic deaths.