Centres of Skill Development & Excellence for Casting technology for MSME to come up: IIF

Coimbatore, Dec 30 (KNN) The Institute of Indian Foundrymen (IIF) said on Thursday that there is a proposal to set up Centre of Excellence for casting technology and Skill Development Centre for the benefit of MSME foundries here by January end.

According to the IIF Secretary Nithyanandan Devaraaj, once the Centres are set up, it will be a boon to the foundry sector in the region, facing problem both on technological and labour fronts.

With an investment of rupees 30 to 40 crore from the Centre as grant and rupees10 crore being pooled from the members, a three acre land has already been identified in Arasur on the outskirts, he added, according to the reports.

As per C R Swaminathan, former president, IIF, most of the workers were migrants from Odisha, Bihar and other Northern states and not adequately skilled for the job. Skill Development Centre would be a boon to them to get hands-on training in the trade, he said.

Both said there should not be single rate for the products, but should be based on the end users and products thereof. They said this while expressing concern over the delay in fixing the tax slabs for foundry in the proposed GST.

While taking pinch over demonetization impact, Former president, IIF said as against the anticipated growth of 10 to 15 per cent production, there was 20 to 30 per cent decrease in production, as there was less demand from end users, who were feeling the real pinch. (KNN/RAS)