{"id":11842,"date":"2021-02-22T09:00:58","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T09:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mfgtechupdate.com\/?p=11842"},"modified":"2022-07-23T09:03:03","modified_gmt":"2022-07-23T09:03:03","slug":"dm-sheregar-ceo-devu-tools-pvt-ltd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mfgtechupdate.com\/dm-sheregar-ceo-devu-tools-pvt-ltd\/","title":{"rendered":"DM Sheregar, CEO, Devu Tools Pvt. Ltd."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Q.\u00a0What challenges are tool makers facing during the\u00a0COVID-19 pandemic?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe pandemic has put most industries in a very\u00a0challenging position and tool makers have just\u00a0been trying to survive. With the operations in the\u00a0manufacturing industry coming to a standstill as a result\u00a0of the lockdown, it has led to a loss in production. Besides,\u00a0companies continue to pay salaries to their employees\u00a0without getting much support from the government. In\u00a0fact, monthly wages are the second highest expenditure\u00a0for the tools industry after raw materials. Companies\u00a0continue to incur fixed expenditure, such as interest\u00a0on term loan, interest on working capital on existing\u00a0borrowings, power (fixed expenses for HT), rent, security,\u00a0etc., without having production in place. Besides job\u00a0shops are facing a scarcity of workers, as their skilled staff\u00a0comprising machine operators, and supervisors, among\u00a0others, have returned to their native place because of\u00a0the pandemic. As a result, manufacturing operations are\u00a0being carried out at 30-40% of the installed capacity. The\u00a0rate of interest on term loans and working capital limits\u00a0are not reduced by the banks in line with reduction of\u00a0Repo rate by the Reserve Bank of India. Due to this, the\u00a0industry continues to bear high interest rates of 10-11%\u00a0charged by banks, which otherwise would have been\u00a09%. This is taking a toll on the industry.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q.\u00a0In this uncertain time, what measures have you\u00a0adopted to keep your team productive?<\/strong><br \/>\nAs the saying goes, \u2018Time is money\u2019. We have been\u00a0trying our best to be as productive as possible during\u00a0this period. For instance, we have tried to incorporate\u00a0effective use of manpower by assigning the charge of\u00a0two machines to a single operator. We have been training\u00a0operators to help them transition from conventional to\u00a0non-conventional ways of functioning. This training will\u00a0help in the effective utilisation of automated machines.\u00a0Besides this, we have in place transportation facility to\u00a0get our workers to the workplace and back. We have\u00a0also set up a canteen for them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q.\u00a0What will manufacturing\u2019s new normal be after\u00a0COVID-19?<\/strong><br \/>\nCOVID-19 has changed the way workplaces function.\u00a0I think it\u2019s helping companies realise how to work\u00a0efficiently with limited manpower. So, operating\u00a0with limited staff is most likely to be the new normal\u00a0after COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q.\u00a0What policy changes or support do MSMEs need in\u00a0such a challenging time in order to revive?<\/strong><br \/>\nThis challenging time has put MSMEs in a very difficult\u00a0spot and a few policy changes will certainly help. I\u00a0would like to suggest a reduction in the interest rate\u00a0across all banks, including cooperative banks, in line\u00a0with the reduction by the Reserve Bank of India, by\u00a01.5-2%, as I think it will be beneficial. The Reserve Bank\u00a0of India should defer the term loan up to March 31,\u00a02021, instead of the present duration of six months.\u00a0The Government of India should offer support in the\u00a0form of incentives, especially to small or mid-size\u00a0companies having a turnover of up to ` 150 crores.\u00a0For instance, they could offer a 25-50% refund in the\u00a0form of Goods and Services Tax (GST) credit for the\u00a0GST paid during FY2020. They should chip in towards\u00a0making payments to the employer\u2019s Provident Fund<br \/>\n(PF) contribution. They could, in fact, waiver the\u00a0PF contribution of the employer and employee for\u00a0a period of 9-12 months to manage the expenses\u00a0incurred during the lockdown period. A subsidy of\u00a05% on the interest charged for a period of 12 months\u00a0on term loan taken towards expansion in anticipation\u00a0of growing demand could really help. A 50% salary\u00a0reimbursement by the government to the employer\u00a0and reduction in overtime wage rates for a period of\u00a018-24 months would really help us.<\/p>\n<p><em>This interview was first published in TAGMA Times newsletter\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Q.\u00a0What challenges are tool makers facing during the\u00a0COVID-19 pandemic? The pandemic has put most industries in a very\u00a0challenging position and tool makers have just\u00a0been trying to survive. With the operations in the\u00a0manufacturing industry coming to a standstill as a result\u00a0of the lockdown, it has led to a loss in production. Besides,\u00a0companies continue to pay salaries [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-views"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfgtechupdate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfgtechupdate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfgtechupdate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfgtechupdate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfgtechupdate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11842"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mfgtechupdate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11844,"href":"https:\/\/mfgtechupdate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11842\/revisions\/11844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfgtechupdate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfgtechupdate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfgtechupdate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfgtechupdate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}