87 percent of industries closed in lack of energy

A whopping 87 percent of industries in the country have been shut down citing lack of energy. This data coming amidst reports of improvement of industrial environment and fall in labor problems has once again scared everybody. Around 37 percent of industries in operation have cited lack of raw materials, according to the National Industrial Census 2012 revealed by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), while 37 percent have stated that lack of skilled workforce has had negative impact. Forty-one percent of the total industries (1,660) have stated that they have failed to produce according to demand due to energy crisis and lack of raw materials, according to Director General of CBS Bikash Bista. CBS has been collecting details from industries, with 10 or higher number of workers, in operation across the country, and revealing them after processing and analyzing that. CBS has been doing National Industrial Census in every five years since 1965 and providing the data to users as per requirements. Bista revealed that the data has been prepared using the legal provisions of industrial enterprises, ownership, raw materials and fuel consumption, tax and other expenditure, sale and stock of raw materials and produced goods, and permanent property details. The number of garment factories, clothes factories, and industries publishing books and copies has fallen in comparison to the last Census. The number of enterprises processing petroleum products, producing metals, medicines, and car, motorcycles and their spare parts has also fallen. Industrial enterprises have been wiped out from three districts since the ninth Census in 2007, and there are currently industries only in 64 districts across the country, according to him. The overall number of industrial enterprises, however, has increased by 18 percent in the period. There are 4,076 industries currently in operation while it was just 3,446 in the last Census. Around 88 percent of the industries are concentrated in 33 districts with the highest in Rupandehi at 320, followed by 318 in Kathmandu. Over 200 industries are in operation also in Morang, Sunsari, Parsa and Bara districts. The number of companies producing food and beverages has also increased, according to CBS. The number of those producing weaved items and leather garments, bakeries, cement/concrete and plastered items, however, has increased. The industries have been producing goods and services worth Rs 323 billion a year by spending around Rs 242 billion every year, according to CBS. The industries have contributed around Rs 80 billion to Nepal’s economy, according to the Census. The number of staffers has also increased by around 15 percent in comparison to the last Census. Fixed capital of around Rs 119 billion has been invested in the industrial enterprises until the final day of counting, while fixed capital of around Rs 6 billion out of that has been added.