Power cuts continue to trouble Coimbatore textile mills

02 Oct '12

3 min read

Lack of uninterrupted power supply is affecting the performance of the textile clusters based in Coimbatore, a textile hub in southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Longer durations of load shedding, increased electricity tariffs and Government’s inability to provide continued power supply have enraged the textile mill owners.

“The mill owners are very agitated particularly because of the power issue,” Mr. S Dinakaran, Chairman, Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), told fibre2fashion.

“Till now, we were little comfortable because of the wind energy, but with the wind season coming to an end, the load shedding duration would increase from 12 to 14 hours every day in the Coimbatore area. Considering this factor, the power is not enough for even one shift,” he explains.

He also informed about the increased tariff which has doubled the problems of the state’s already struggling textile industry. “This year the Tamil Nadu government has increased the wind tariff by Re. 1/- and power tariff by Rs. 1.50/-, and these rates have made the situation even more problematic,” he avers.

When quizzed about the measures taken by the industry to solve the issues, he replies, “We have been demanding from the government, since the last 3-4 years, to bring out solutions to these problems. First, the government should immediately announce a suitable power cut duration to reduce the load shedding.”

“Second, there should be an equal distribution of power, they cannot supply power to Chennai and some MNCs alone, and leave the rest of the state longing for power. Third, the government should speed up the completion of Kudankulam power project, which will be able to start only by June, and other power projects,” he states.

Commenting on the possibility of the textile mills expanding or migrating to other states, Mr. Dinakaran says, “Expanding to other states is a long-term plan. Except for power, whatever drawbacks we have in Tamil Nadu would not make the people prefer to go to other states. Moreover, the incentives are not lucrative enough to migrate to other states altogether. Only 5 to 10 percent people may want to migrate and not more than that.”

In spite of the power problem, the SIMA Chairman is optimistic about the textile industry. He says, “The textile industry in Coimbatore, by and large, is approaching normalcy, because, these days cotton is easily available and people can source it globally. Moreover, the prices are not so volatile. Hence, the textile industry should perform well from January onwards.”

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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