The pump industry saw a de-growth of 20% in terms of volume in 2021-2022 as the cost of manufacturing increased 45%, according to outgoing president of Southern India Engineering Manufacturers’ Association (SIEMA) K.V. Karthik.
Speaking at the annual meeting of the Association here on Wednesday, Mr. Karthik said that with higher input prices, the cost of production jumped for the manufacturers. But, they were able to increase the prices of the end products by only 25%. Hence, the profits of all the companies took a severe hit. In terms of volume of sales, there was a de-growth of 20%, Mr. Karthik said.
The industry is looking forward to better demand this year as raw material prices have stabilised and demand is picking up.
According to D. Vignesh, the newly-elected president of the Association, there is a need for the industry to get into high-value pumps. The Association’s testing and research organisation Si’Tarc had submitted an application to the Central government for the development of submersible slurry pumps at a total cost of ₹13 crore. Almost 80% of this is provided as grant by the government.
The SIEMA has received ₹10 crore grant for this project. Such projects will enable the to industry capture 4% of the $93 billion global pump market in the next five years.
However, with challenges posed by the unorganised segment in the domestic market, there is a need to reverse the recent hike in GST for pumps at least for agricultural pumps, he said.
The newly-elected office bearers of SIEMA are D. Vignesh of Ellen Pumps (President) and Mithun Ramdas of Mahendra Pumps, Ma Sendilkumar of SuperTek Industries, and Arun Ranganathan of Suguna Motors and Pumps (vice presidents).
