COIMBATORE: With a steep increase in the input costs during the last three months, pumpset manufacturers here have started revising upwards the list prices of their products.

President of the Southern India Engineering Manufacturers' Association Jayakumar Ramdass told ‘The Hindu' here on Tuesday that the cost of pig iron, steel, aluminium, plastics and copper went up by 5 to 12 per cent during the last three months. Apart from these, the freight costs had also increased with the hike in petrol and diesel prices.

“The market for pumpsets is good. But, the bottom line is affected. Hence, the manufacturers have started increasing the product prices,” he said.

The price increase for the end product ranged from five to 10 per cent and depended on the brand, product mix and marketability of the product. While some manufacturers had implemented the revised prices from March 15, many more were expected to do so from April 1. Several manufacturers had already cut down the discount schemes.

Mr. Ramdass said the power cost was expected to go up further in the coming two months and the industries here were facing severe labour shortage. Thus, there was a pressure on the manufacturing costs. Normally, the pumpset prices were revised once a year or once in two years. The last revision was in 2008 and it was brought down when the duties were reduced. Now, the manufacturers were forced to hike the pumpset prices as they were unable able to absorb completely the spiralling raw material costs. Some manufacturers were going in for value added engineering and alternative raw materials too, he said.

Courtesy - Hindu