Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Micro and small footwear units of the city have cried against the initiative of the Government of India to impose BIS standards on these units also from January 2024.
They have demanded that they must be given an exemption from the implementation of BIS. They fear that it will make footwear costlier. The local units have stated that due to this the future of small industries would be in danger.
With the implementation of BIS rules, the units will have to increase capital investment and would require more space which is impossible for small industries to meet in the present situation.
Looking at the seriousness of the issue a delegation of the micro and small footwear units of the city under the aegis of Association of Industries of Madhya Pradesh (AIMP) met MP Shankar Lalwani and shared with him the problems of the footwear industries.
The MP assured the delegation of bringing these issues before the Central Government, as well as arranging a meeting with Union Minister of Industry and Commerce Piyush Goyal to solve this problem.
He said that it is a national issue affecting all footwear manufacturers. President AIMP Yogesh Mehta said that the association will also try hard to present this issue before the Central government along with the footwear manufacturers of other states, so that the small-scale footwear industry can fight against this issue united and survive.
Footwear manufacturers Girish Punjabi and Amit Sancheti said that with the implementation of BIS standard in our sector, the input cost of the small scale units would increase drastically due to which the units would become unviable.
Currently, our footwear is available at cheap rates that make it affordable for the poor section of the society, but as soon as the BIS rules are implemented, the cost will increase and due to increase in cost, many units will be forced to shut-down. Several footwear manufacturers including Prakash Jain, Tarun Vyas, Pramod Dafaria, Girish Punjabi, Amit Sancheti were present during the meeting.
