Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

‘Infighting’ in some trade bodies exposes friction

MADURAI: Infighting in some of the trade associations such as the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries’ Association has exposed lack of unity among them and raised eyebrows among bureaucrats.

According to a few past presidents from these associations, next to Chennai, Madurai is known for spearheading the movement of small industry and putting forth its views in an assertive tone on key subjects.

On many occasions, the opinion expressed by these bodies had been taken in the right perspective by the governments. Be it on commercial taxes or levy of excise duty, or demand for trains or setting up of special economic zone in southern districts, the associations’ views were considered and implemented in the past, they said.

The Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry is one of the biggest organisations with over 7,000 members. Recently, a few members came out openly against elected office-bearers and also observed a fast in the city condemning the action of some of them.

Similarly, the MADITSSIA, which had made its mark by encouraging many neo-entrepreneurs to set up small and tiny units, is in an imbroglio. The ‘infighting’ had in a way stalled the popular Ideal Home Exhibition. Ironically, 2009 is the silver jubilee year for this expo, an office-bearer said.

“With the participation of two public sector banks, every year we give three awards (Visveswaraya) to the top three industrial organisations in this region. The process of inviting applications for this year this year has been temporarily stopped,” he added.

On key issues such as reduction of duties, amendments to tax structure and waiver of penal interest, the association’s demands benefited not only its members but enabled the entire industry, a past president said. In a public-private initiative, the MADITSSIA entered into a joint venture with the Madurai Corporation and established a huge auditorium.

With the trade and industry bodies’ infighting, bureaucrats in government departments are reluctant to accept their invitations. A senior IAS officer handling IT related portfolio said that “we are watching the development.”

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