Small industries increase in Rupandehi

By Our Correspondent,Bhairahawa, Aug. 6: As the opening of industries in Rupandehi increased, closure of old industries increased too.

The cottage and small industries can be operated with little investment and as energy consumption and workers are easily available, investment is increasing in these industries.

However, due to lack of return in proportion to investment, government hassles, strictness of banks and financial institutions in credit flows, the number of entrepreneurs closing their industries has also increased lately.

According to the Cottage and Small Industry Office, there are currently 17,823 industries operating in the district. About Rs. 42 billion is invested in these industries alone. As the attraction of investors in such industries is increasing, the rate of closure of industries is also increasing.

In the last three years, around 4,453 new industries were established in the district, while 736 old industries were shut down.

Chief of Cottage and Small Industry Office, Rupandehi Arjun Bahadur Thapa said, among the closures, some are only registered but not in operation, while most of them have not received the return according to their investment. “However, as new openings of industries are increasing rather than closures, this should be taken positively,” he said.

About 46,000 people have got employment in the domestic and small industries operating in the district. Out of this, 34,000 are women and the rest are men. Only domestic workers are employed in such industries.

Thapa said, “The closure of old industry is definitely not considered positive as new industries like production, agriculture and forestry, tourism and services are being added.”

He said that micro-level research over the tendency to close the old industries should be undertaken.

About Rs. 16 billion has been invested in new industries registered in the last three years.

Similarly, the investment of closed industries is around Rs. 5 billion.

“Looking at it this way, investment has increased, but the old industries should not be displaced. Although some of them have not been operational yet, many have been operational. So, we have to encourage entrepreneurs to reopen the industries by addressing their problems,” said Thapa.

“As the process of expanding business by registering small industries is increasing, but, in recent times, due to lack of return on investment and economic recession, small and domestic industries are also closing down. This is not good,” said Thakur Kumar Shrestha, president of Siddhartha Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

While the industry is being shut down, there has been no inquiry from anywhere about the reason behind it, he said. He said that the state should protect the industrialists who are in trouble.

He complained that the government has not taken the right policies and arranged incentives to protect private sector investment.

The government has classified industries with low energy consumption and high labour need as domestic industries and industries with fixed capital investment of up to Rs. 50 million under small industries.

Due to the easy access to India, the world tourist centre Lumbini, operation of Gautam Buddha Airport, in the recent time, youth and abroad returnees of Rupandehi have engaged in the investment in agriculture, hotels and restaurants, handicrafts, leather shoes, tailoring, metal products, food and beverages, furniture and other domestic and small businesses.