Small, medium foundries in Coimbatore on 2-day strike

Nearly 400 foundries here today launched a two-day shut down to highlight their problems such as high raw material cost and refund issues related to GST.

Sources in Small and Medium Foundries Association here said the increase in the prices of raw materials such as pig iron and other chemicals used in castings had gone up steeply in the last four months.

The increase was due to closure of quarries in Goa, they said adding the Goods and Services Tax of 18 per cent had also taken a toll on the turnover of the small scale foundry industry.

Though the industry had appealed to both the state and central governments to look into their issues, nothing had been done, the sources claimed.

They said the closure of the foundries would result in a production loss of nearly Rs 100 crore per day.