Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced in the Union Budget that the PM-KUSUM scheme will be expanded to provide support to 20 lakh farmers for setting up stand-alone solar pumps. Another 15 lakh farmers will be supported to solarise their grid-connected pump sets. In addition, a scheme to enable farmers set up solar power generation capacity on their fallow/barren lands and to sell it to the grid would be operationalised.
“The scheme is a welcome move. But such huge numbers of solar pumpsets will be purchased through tender and the Coimbatore manufacturers are mostly MSMEs. The manufacturers here make pumpsets and the integrators sell it with solar panels and controllers. Hence, they are unable to participate in the tenders. The Government should relax the norms,” said V. Krishnakumar, president of Southern India Engineering Manufacturers’ Association.
The scheme for another 15 lakh pumps to be connected to solar energy may benefit the manufacturers here if the farmers are allowed to buy the pumpsets. “When we talk of becoming a five trillion $ economy, agriculture and MSME sectors should be prioritised. The schemes announced for these sectors should be implemented properly,” he said.
There are several announcements in the budget that are expected to boost the rural economy. There is focus on water conservation, warehouses, organic farming, etc.
These are all expected to benefit the MSMEs in this region, added V. Lakshminarayanasamy, president of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore.
The pump manufacturers make solar pumps though the numbers are not high. If the announcement will lead to larger demand for solar pumps, the manufacturers here will stand to gain, he added.