The power situation in the state has worsened. Even as the city escapes from massive power cuts, the industrial sector says at least 20 per cent of the manufacturing units are shutting down business in the state. Industry sources indicate that while 90 per cent of the Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) are in incipient sickness stage, as many as 11,000 MSME units are estimated to have wound up business from the state. Moreover, if the situation persists, another 2.5 lakh MSME units of the total 7 lakh units will be forced to shut down operations, they said.
The industrial sector, which has been bearing the brunt of the power crisis for the past 11 months, is currently facing 40 to 60 per cent power cuts depending on the size of the industry. The power shortage has increased from around 40MU some weeks back to around 55MU currently.
Federation of AP Chamb-ers of Commerce and Ind-ustry president Devendra Surana said, “Over 90 per cent of the industries are running at a loss as the power crisis has been persistent since September last year. An estimated 15-20 per cent of the industries are closing down and what is worse is that the situation is not expected to improve anytime near future. The growth of the industrial sector has been stunted by 40 per cent in the last three to four years, primarily due to power supply problem.”
“Apart from a Rs 950-crore loss due to 11,000 MSME units shutting down, another two to three lakh units are expected to shut down if the power crisis situation persists for another six months. The worst affected units are ferroalloys, textiles, automobiles, aluminium and cement production units,” said A.P.K. Reddy, president, Federation of AP Small Industries Associations.
Meanwhile, the industrial sector has been demanding that the industries be given a monthly quota of 60 per cent of the power load allowed, so that they have the flexibility to plan in advance. For immediate relief, the industry is asking for removal of maximum demand charges as they are not receiving full power supply, as well as abolishing of input tax cre-dit on diesel used for captive generation. But no ac-tion has been taken on this for over six months now.