Agra piston industry near extinction

Established in the heyday of the Soviet Union, the pistons industry flourished in Agra, bringing in an unprecedented demand for a product that could be manufactured with the least investment.

Export orders were pouring in from the USSR, Africa, SE Asia and export agents from Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata began arriving in Agra to take advantage of the town's foundry industry, flourishing at the time.

Soon, anyone who had some spare cash, was setting up piston and ring manufacturing units to fulfil export orders. Both labour and technology being cheap, business boomed.

The dream, however, came to an abrupt end once the end-user response began filtering in. The response branded products from Agra as low-grade. Consequently, orders declined, finally coming to a stop about 10 years back.

Rajiv Luthra, managing director LPR Exports Pvt Ltd, one of the few remaining export-oriented piston ring manufacturers of Agra, believes that the negative feedback from the then USSR that destroyed the industry.

He added, being essentially small scale enterprises, the local piston units were unable to modernise their equipment because of the huge investment needed to import computerised CNC machines.

According to Luthra, the hike in input costs over the past couple of years has also been a major factor in the shutting down of a majority of small-scale units. Concerns about pollution have also prevented automation of the piston units. Luthra said exporters could compete against China only if the Chinese currency appreciated against the US dollar.

Rajiv Gupta, former president, National Chamber of Industries and Commerce, claimed that the price margin between better quality pistons manufactured by multinational companies and locally made products had narrowed down to such an extent that the end-users now preferred