Thiruvananthapuram: It was the disappointment and anger at the functioning of government agencies like KFC, KINFRA and KSIDC that animated the district-level discussions held to firm up the new Industrial Policy. Stakeholders, especially representatives of micro small and medium enterprises, felt that these agencies had failed to provide two ingredients crucial for the growth of industry in the state: affordable finance and infrastructure.
Affordable finance has been a longstanding demand. According to Kerala Enterprise Development Report 2016, prepared by the Institute of Small Enterprises and Development, 92.03 per cent of the MSMEs in the state had not taken any loans from any government agencies like KFC or KSIDC. Among those that have availed loans, 73.89 per cent depended on banks for loans while the balance was accounted for by cooperatives (10.67 per cent), private money lenders (5.75 per cent) and others (9.69 per cent).
“One of the reasons for the reluctance to secure finance from KFC was the high rate of interest (14.50 per cent). This rate was in fact, the highest among 11 State financial corporations (SFCs) in the country,” a top Industrial Department source said.
Besides low-cost finance, creation of new infrastructure and strengthening of existing one are the other two factors necessary for the growth of industry. KINFRA, KSIDC and SIDCO have been developing industrial parks, townships, industrial growth centres and industrial estates. However, they seem to go about their task without proper planning.
Take for instance the decision of KINFRA to establish rural apparel parks in panchayats across the state; basic objective being to boost employment in rural areas. The promise was employment for 1200 rural women. Accordingly, KINFRA was leased out 2.02 acres of land to set up a rural apparel park at Rajakumari, Idukki. The park was established for Rs 7.34 crore in 2012. But till date, no entrepreneur has sought space in the park.
The KSIDC story is not much different. It had developed three industrial growth centres (IGCs) at Kinalur (Kozhikode), Baliyavelichom (Kannur) and Cherthala (Alappuzha) for Rs 138.25 crore. Out of 698.89 acres of land available in the IGCs, only 46.15 percent of 322.52 acres were actually utilised.
It was also found that of the 150 units that had been allotted land in the three IGCs, 37 had failed to commence commercial production within two years. The delay ranged from 10 months to 7 years. KSIDC, however, had not evicted these allottees.
