Ludhiana: In a ‘warning’ to the Union government, Fastener Manufacturers’ Association of India (FMAI) said on Wednesday that if no steps were taken to tackle the ongoing recession, thousands of units, which supply their products to automobile manufacturers, will close down. According to the association, the fastener industry of Ludhiana has already cut its production by more than 50% due to a huge drop in demand.FMAI president Narinder Bhamra said, “Due to the present economic slowdown, there is a massive drop in demand of our products and all units based in Ludhiana that were supplying to the auto sector have cut down their production by 50% to 70%. Some of the units are even observing two weekly offs to counter the situation. If the government does not step in, there will be serious consequences and thousands of units will be shut, and lakhs of workers unemployed.”Bhamra added, “There are a number of fastener units supplying their products to Maruti Tata Motors, and Leyland, among others. For the past three months, all these companies have stopped production due to a fall in demand of automobiles. Ludhiana has a huge number of factories dependent on big auto companies, and without orders from them, they will not be able to survive.""Some small units are even unable to meet their basic expenses of electricity bills and salaries, among others. Adding to the agony is the high rate of 28% GST, along with which we are facing problem of not getting tax refunds. The public sector undertakings, like Railways and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, are delaying payments for months to suppliers like us, which is further denting our businesses.”He said according to an analysis by their association, the need of the hour was immediate relief to the auto sector by reducing GST to 18%, so that demand for new commercial and passenger vehicles increases. He said scrapping of vehicles that were over 15 years old should be implemented to create demand.Rajkumar Singla, president of Fastener Suppliers’ Association, Ludhiana, said, “We have been into the business for more than 35 years. All these years, we never came across such a situation. On one hand, the demand for products is falling and on the other, the shut down in auto sector has worsened the situation. Our production has gone down by more than 50%. But expenses like labour, power charges , taxes, fuel costs, among others, are rising by the day.”Blaming the centre’s ‘ill-planned policies”, he added, “Without considering the ground situation, the Union government has been taking steps which are not helping micro small and medium enterprises. Even as the PM is advocating Make in India policy, the government never tried to understand manufacturers’ problems.”Pankaj Aggarwal, a fastener manufacturer, said, “We have never seen this kind of situation. Earlier, recession lasted for some days, but this time it has been more than three months. It seems it may take six months to a year for the situation to improve if the government takes steps now.”The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India had halted manufacturing operations at its two facilities in Gurugram and Manesar on September 7 and 9. Reeling under severe slowdown, the auto major had reduced its production by 33.99% in August, making it the seventh straight month of reduction.Over 5,000 fastener units in cityLudhiana is one of the biggest hubs of fasteners. Major products being manufactured here include nuts, bolts, studs, washers, screws, rivets, among others, which are supplied to automotive, hardware, aeronautics and several other sectors.According to FMAI, there are more than 5,000 units dealing in direct and on-contract manufacturing and supply of fasteners to Indian and overseas companies. A huge supply of products is made to several big automotive companies, including Maruti, Tata, Mahindra Ashoka Leyland , among others, from Ludhiana. Besides the manufacturing units of organized sector, there are hundreds of small units as well which operate from the houses of the owners of these units.