Daijiworld Media Network - Chennai (SHP)

Chennai, Sep 5: Ambattur in Chennai is a small town serving as a hub for the manufacture of small auto parts. A machine operator, Sahaya Mary laid off 10 years ago is living in an unfortunate condition. Mary is a widow who is out of a job and has trouble making ends meet.

Mary lives in a two-room rented house, with high debt and no job. The distressed widow has taken money at a high-interest rate and pledged her gold to pay off the loan. With the economy in a slump, she is currently looking at a housekeeping job.

Another such case is Palanivel and Stephen who have 20 years of experience in the auto industry. The duo has been sacked and now needs money to pay college fees for their kids.

As per reports by the Federation of Associations of Small Industries of India, 70,000 workers lost their jobs in Chennai due to the economic crisis in the auto sector.

One of the owners of a small manufacturing unit advised the government to ease up on the GST rates or try to lower interest rates. As the entrepreneurs are discouraged because of high GST rates, triggering production loss.

Experts over the economic crisis have forecasted job loss of over 3.5 lac workers in the auto industry alone as a majority of micro-enterprises are unorganised.