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Agra’s Industrial Growth Stagnates
Brij Khandelwal
Jun 2009
Jun 2009
The Mumbai terror attacks have hit the tourism industry with reports of large scale cancellations of trips by foreign tourists. The leather shoe industry has suffered due to recessionary pressures and steep decline in export orders, according to the Shoe Manufacturers' Association.
The centuries old iron foundries were the first target. The pulses and the edible oil industries were next to fold up their operations. It is now the turn of the generator industry for which the bell has started ticking. The Euro III norms are already in place forcing the conventional generators out of circulation.
The traditional leather shoe industry is already in low gear with prices of raw materials going up sharply. The increased power tariffs that came in force last year and the VAT regime that's been adopted by most states has delivered a crippling blow to the number one industry of Agra in terms of volume of turnover and the labour force employed.
The latest on the hit list is the electro-plating industry. Notices have been served and their closure is imminent. Officials put the number of units engaged in chain making and electro plating at over 50 employing thousands of people.
Though supply of natural gas to over 70 industrial units through a gas pipeline network by the Gas Authority of India Ltd., has saved the day for them, but the overall profitability has declined and the stiff competition from various other centres threatens the survival of most iron foundries.
With the race for excelling in handicrafts and marble and inlay work already lost, Agra faces a grim future in days to come. The only flourishing industry at the moment is crime in various avatars from chain snatching to abductions.
The National Chamber of Industries and Commerce, the Agra Iron Foundries Association, the Generator manufacturers association, Factory Owners Association and various other bodies are engaged in intense discussions and interaction with the government bodies to seek solutions to the problems the local industries face, but the total focus of the state and the central government is on tourism which hardly employs 50,000 people out of a population of over 35 lakhs in the district.
The city does not lack entrepreneurship nor faces a resources crunch as many other areas do, but the absence of a clear policy frame and vision at the government level has stalled broad basing of the industrial structure which could have provided jobs to lakhs of people.
The city of the Taj Mahal was known for at least four industries once upon a time: Petha (sweet); iron foundries, glass and handicrafts, marble articles and shoe industry. "Interestingly raw material for any of these industries was not locally available, but it was the availability of skilled artisans and workers that helped develop and acquire an international identity to these industries. Now all these sectors are perilously close to death as no efforts are being made at the government level to sustain or boost their base," says former president of the National Chamber of Industries and Commerce, Rajeev Gupta. The confused policies of the state government in relation to auto parts sector has also been a major blow, he adds.
With tourism in the dumps and the traditional industries facing a bleak future, the only industry flourishing at the moment is crime with political patronage and professionals supporting it.
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