Bahadurgarh Inc Grows on Liberalization Spark

Bahadurgarh Inc Grows on Liberalization Spark

BAHADURGARH: In the past two decades, especially after liberalisation, Bahadurgarh has witnessed signs of industrial growth. Today, there are around 2,500 units based here clocking a turnover of around Rs 6,500 crore employing 50,000 people. Jitender Singh, AGM of HSIIDC, Bahadurgarh said, "The city's economy has grown at 20 percent CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) since past 20 years."

ROUGH BEGINNING

"Initially, during the regime of Pratap Singh Kairon (first CM of Punjab province), a majority of units that arrived here were micro-sized units. The city failed to attract giant units and thus most units continued to remain as vendors," said Vipin Bajaj, president of Bahadurgarh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (BCCI).

He said that the government bodies tried hard to bring it to the level of Faridabad by introducing Modern Industrial Estate (MIE) through Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) in 1973. But, it didn't work.

LIBERALIZATION SPARK

"It's true that Bhadurgarh failed to grow as it was envisioned, but after liberalisation, industries like plastic moulding, machinery fabrication, PVC moulding, tool room for wire and cable moulding, rubber moulding, tile manufacturing etc settled in Bahadurgarh," said Bajaj. They grew without the support of any large unit and diversified the economy of the city.

BCCI general secretary Praveen Garg said, "Faridabad had giant players like Escorts and Eicher, which had the capacity to provide lifeline to around 300 MSMEs. Apart from this, larger units enhanced the liquidity flow in the market with the aggressive marketing strategy, while in case of small units; they needed to work on a lower profit margin."

"The emergence of Bahadurgarh as a plastic hub resulted in growth of the footwear industry. Many footwear units relocated themselves here in the past decade. The Haryana government also instituted a footwear park in Bahadurgarh which is contributing around Rs 2,000 crore per annum to the city's economy," said Garg. He added that the Haryana government was instrumental in attracting larger units to the region in its industrial estate, which contributes around Rs 3,000 crore — around 40 percent of the city's turnover.

CURRENT POTENTIAL

"Now, there are around 30 giant players, including Hindustan National Glass and Industries Ltd, Hindware, Surya Roshni Lighting, Action Shoes, Diamond Industries, Relaxo, Parley G etc. However, they are largely self reliant. They don't outsource much business to feed small enterprises as in the case of Maruti or Escorts. Apart from footwear, rest of the industries are still not enough to garner that much of business from the existing giant players," said Garg.

Elaborating on the industries operating in Bahadurgarh, Garg said, "Today, there are around 500 units of footwear in Bahadurgarh contributing around one-third of the net turnover of the city. Apart from this; there are iron and steel fabrication, plastic industry, rubber industry, machinery fabrication, auto components, wires and cable manufacturing industry, pharma, sanitary, ceramics, medical equipment manufacturing industry etc." Â

Garg was of the opinion that such a diversification and emergence of footwear industry in the region was due to the massive expansion in the consumer durable items and its consumption.

On annual turnover of Bahadurgarh, Vipin Bajaj said, "As per the income tax and revenue department, they have garnered around Rs 300 crore from the industries operating here. So, net turnover of the city would be around Rs 6,000 crore. Apart from this, there are some (large) units that file I-T returns in Delhi, though they have unit(s) in Bahadurgarh. Therefore, the net annual turnover of Bahadurgarh would be near Rs 7,500 crore."

EXPORT BIZ

Bahdurgarh units are in exports also. "As per BCCI records, Bahadurgarh-based units have exported to nearly 70 countries in the past year mostly to the US, Canada, Europe and West Asia," said Bajaj of BCCI. "These units generated around 10 percent of the net revenue through exports. Therefore, net export of the city is around Rs 750 crore per annum. Major export items are footwear, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, sanitary and ceramics, auto components etc."

"The city remained to lag behind because of lack of industrial innovation," added Garg. On the job creation front, "The region has created 25,000 direct jobs and the same number of indirect jobs. However, for such a large workforce there is no fully equipped hospital," concluded Garg of BCCI.