Economic meltdown blows auto industry up

[Guest srikanth51]

Vijayawada, Feb 7 (TNN): The global economic meltdown has impacted the transactions in Autonagar in Vijayawada, the largest in Asia. The lorry body-building units are the worst affected. The lorry operators throng the Autonagar not only from within State but also from other States as plenty of skilled workers in body building are available here.

Last year the Autonagar was abuzz with new chassis of lorries lined for body-building in front of the sheds. But this year the sheds wear a near deserted look because of global recession and added to that the financiers are also imposing lot of conditions in giving loans for the new chassis.

As a result of the recession, many of the skilled workers have been rendered jobless. The owners of body-building units apprehend repetition of the recession they underwent 12 years ago in the automobile industry. As delivery points of many noted automobile companies exist in and around Vijayawada, many operators prefer to body-build their chassis here.

The season for body-building is between January and May. In every season the body-building units turn out 1500 lorries on an average. As many as 3,500 lorries were body-built in the Jawahar Autonagar last year as against 2,500 lorries before last year. As there was steep decline in lorry purchasing, many of the workers had to be shown the door. So far only not even 50 lorries entered the units speaks volumes about the pathetic condition of the workers and the owners of the units.

There are about 150 `maistries' involved in body-building and each `maistri' employs not less than 20 workers. As many as 5000 workers eke out a living on this profession. They charge Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 for each body-building. The workers who earned Rs 250 to Rs 300 a day last year had to undersell their services for a paltry Rs 125 now.

Last year the bankers were magnanimous in lending for the new lorries. As they also extended loan for body-building many purchased new lorries. Owing to recession, the bankers are now insisting on margin money and imposing many clauses for giving loans to the new lorries. As a result many of the aspirants are giving up idea of purchasing new lorries. Many of the skilled workers are testing their skills in other trades biding for an opportune time.

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