Pune: The ninth survey conducted by Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) has revealed that for companies the current level of production has on average only marginally increased from 78 per cent in November to 79 per cent in December 2020. On an average, the surveyed companies said that the number of employees working has stayed the same at 82 per cent. More than 150 organisations participated in this survey from Pune District.

MCCIA President Sudhir Mehta said, "While there is month on month progress, we hear that MSMEs are facing some acute challenges. One of the key challenges faced in the recent past is that of escalating raw material prices, especially that of metals like iron, steel and aluminium and even plastic. This is making operations of many unviable. We appeal to the Government to take note of this and intervene appropriately."

• 27 per cent of the companies said their production was already at pre-COVID levels.

• 23 per cent of the respondents now said that they expect their production levels to go back to the pre-Covid levels in less than 3 months.

• 31 per cent of the respondents said they expect it to take between 3 to 6 months

• 13 per cent said it would take between 6 to 9 months

• 4 per cent said it would take beyond 9 months

• 2 per cent were uncertain
  

Profile of respondents:

The distribution of organisations surveyed from micro, small, medium and large scale organisations was 17 per cent, 30 per cent, 22 per cent and 31 per cent respectively.

• 65 per cent of the organisations surveyed were from the manufacturing sector

• 13 per cent from the services sector and the rest were involved in both manufacturing and services.