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.
