Coimbatore, July 20 (KNN) The Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (CODISSIA)on behalf of SME Pump manufacturers in the region  sought necessary amendments in the tender conditions laid down by Energy Efficiency Services Ltd.(EESL). 

To voice the grievances of MSME pump manufacturers both CODISSIA and Tamil Nadu Plastics Manufacturers' Association (TAPMA) representatives met   Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister for Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises on July 15.

The clauses in the tender hugely limit the MSME participation according to CODISSIA and TAPMA.

The entrepreneurs said that the average annual turnover of the bidder over last three years should not be less than Rs. 50 crores.

Moreover, as per the tender clauses, membership to bid is limited only to two MSMEs who will participate as a consortium with National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC). Further, the minimum supply is 20000 pumps and the maximum is 50000 pumps with a warranty of 5 years on smart control panel.

Talking to KNN about the nuances of such rigid tender terms on SME sector, Punuswamy, Former President of CODISSIA, said, “Inspite of more than 50% pump manufacturing done by Small Scale Industries (SSIs), an upper limit to purchase only 20% of the tender value from the SSIs should be absolutely removed”.

“Secondly, a mandatory requirement of Rs. 50 crore turn over should be reduced to around Rs. 15 crore. No such ceiling should be fixed. A minimum threshold to supply 20000 pumps should be revised to a minimum of only 1000 pumps which is sufficient to generate a turnover close to 10 crore or so. So, a peak high limit of Rs. 50 crore turnover should be lowered accordingly for MSME eligibility.”

Punuswamy also stated that the smart control panel designs have been changed atleast six times by EESL which requires a completely different tender protocol to be floated.  He explained that, “panel which costs around Rs. 25000  is not our product but the tender mandates the pump supplier to provide 5 year warranty on the panel too which has more product value  than the pump itself priced at around Rs.20000”.

So, as per the memorandum presented by CODISSIA to the MSME Ministry recently, there needs to be separate tender floated for panel and the panel manufacturers should themselves be held responsible for the warranty. Moreover, the ceiling which allows only 2 MSMEs pan India to participate as a consortium with NSIC is a huge barrier.

Rather any number of MSMEs forming a consortium should be allowed to supply through NSIC. This limit of allowing participation of only 2 MSMEs needs to be immediately removed. Last but not the least, 20% security deposit should either be reduced to 5% or should be totally eliminated for pump manufacturers participating as a consortium.

Thus, CODISSIA and the pump manufacturers expect  all the necessary amendments to be taken into consideration before the announcement of the tender in the month of July this year. (KNN/ GK)