-SATISH HANDA

Aseem Goel MLA (Ambala City) inaugurated long awaited Kitchen Appliances and Mixi cluster at village Manakpur adjoining the city and laid foundation stone for the building in the presence of large number of local entrepreneurs in the town. He said, amount worth Rs 1.70 crore is being spent on this project with the technical support and assistance of Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMR) which is likely to bring back lost identification of town known as ‘Mixi Town’ in past. According to entrepreneurs, Ambala City was having more than 500 units manufacturing mixis and juicers and lost its identification due to various reasons. Aseem Goel assured that every effort will be taken to make Ambala a hub for all types of kitchen appliances including mixis and juicers, which will not only bring back lost identification but all increase sources of employment for youths in the area.

President of mixi industry Ambala Ajay Aggarwal said government has assured full support and relaxations to entrepreneurs willing to set up their manufacturing units for kitchen appliances and approve CLU for all units without any difficulty and delay. Aggarwal said, declining profit margins, hostile business environment and indifferent government policies, increase in sales tax by the state government were prominent reasons when large number of manufacturing units in the town collapsed, either closed down their shutters or shifted to adjoining state Himachal Pradesh and Uttranchal states offering attractive incentives to new industry in their states and Ambala known for manufacturing mixis and juicers not only in the country but all over in the world fallen way behind Bombay and Delhi.

Recalling old days, the entrepreneurs said it was boom time for mixi industry at Ambala in the seventies as there was ready business for every body in-spite of lacking technical know how, the idea caught on like wild fire and more than 500 units manufacturing mixis-juicers and its spare parts were set up in the town despite of presence of  reputed brands in the market because locally manufactured brands were available at much cheaper prices as well as superior in quality as compared to such costly brands. Most of the manufacturers told that stagnation in mixi-juicer business manufactured at Ambala was due to multitude reasons including higher rate of sales tax in the state as compared to neighbouring states adversely affected their business.

Competition in business was another major reason, which reduced profit margin as well as quality and in order to remain alive in business when manufacturers started selling mixis at a margin of only Rs 25 to 30  each mixi to keep themselves alive and started using sub-standard components which affected reputation of entire market thus reducing the number of buyers. In the meantime large number of manufacturers in the town unable to earn reasonable profit margin became sick, either closed down their units or changed to alternate business and few major manufacturers set up their units to nearby Kala Amb in Himachal as such number of manufacturers was reduced between 30-40 units from over 500.

Ambala had gone down in history as the the city where first mixi was manufactured in the country in 1963 by C. Lal Electrical & Mechanical Manufacturers owned by Rajender Nath an educationist in the town having his manufacturing units at Ambala City as well at kala Amb.No wonder seven of the awards that has been awarded to manufacturers so far have gone to the diligent manufacturers of Ambala.