Mumbai, July 29 : The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) on Wednesday, citing the Central government's data presented in the Lok Sabha, said that in the last three years more than 1.25 lakh industries and factories in the country have shut down. Hundreds of thousands of young people have lost their jobs.

The Thackeray camp, in an editorial in the party's mouthpiece, 'Saamana', claimed that this has completely exposed and stripped bare the government's claims of bringing in thousands of crores in foreign investment and generating lakhs of jobs by establishing thousands of new industries.

"A sob story of industries -- closing the old and starting the new -- has been unfolding in the country for the last 12 years. Under a regime that fills the minds of youth with religious fanaticism instead of placing jobs in their hands, what else could possibly happen?" it asked.

The editorial said that, as per government data, a total of 1,21,805 Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) units closed operations between 2024 and 2026. The MSME sector is widely regarded as the backbone of the Indian economy, serving as the second-largest employer after agriculture and contributing significantly to national exports. Despite its critical role, the rate of unit closures has seen a continuous upward trajectory over the past decade.

The shutdown of MSME units has hit several industrial states severely. Maharashtra recorded the highest number of closures, with 28,764 units shutting down. Tamil Nadu stood second with 14,176 unit closures. Gujarat reported 11,150 closed units. Rajasthan saw 9,881 MSME units permanently cease operations. These figures contradict the official claims regarding massive foreign investment inflows and large-scale job creation through new industrial ventures, noted the editorial.

According to the editorial, over the past 10 years, the government made available over Rs 35 lakh crore in loans to support startups and operations in the micro, small, and medium enterprise sector. However, business owners have struggled against mounting market challenges, rising operational costs, and persistent procedural bottlenecks. "Key factors contributing to early-stage business failure include inadequate or delayed access to bank credit at reasonable interest rates, prolonged payment delays from large corporations for supplied goods and bureaucratic delays in releasing payments owed by government departments," remarked the Thackeray camp.

While state leaders and central ministers frequently engage in global outreach, including events like the World Economic Forum in Davos, to attract new industrial setups, critics point out a lack of concrete measures to revive ailing existing units, argued the editorial.

Citing the Maharashtra case, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena said that while the state registered over 75 lakh new enterprises over the last three years, it simultaneously lost more than 28,000 existing MSME units. "The absence of targeted rehabilitation programmes for sick industrial units continues to lead to rising Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) for banks and sudden job losses for young workers across the country," it commented.

The editorial claimed that no measures are being taken at the government level to support them, rebuild them, or revive these sick industries. Due to this "fend for yourself" policy, not only are small industries sinking, but bank loans are defaulting, and the livelihoods of thousands of young people working there are suddenly snatched away.

/IANS