The communal violence in Muzaffarnagar comes at an unfortunate time for local industry. A Business Standard report highlighted the plight of the city which is already facing increases in input prices of raw material, higher electricity rates and suppressed demand; businesses here are sure the worst is not going to end soon.

Muzaffarnagar lies in the sugar belt of the country. According to BS, industrialists here said the economy was built around three industries — paper, steel mills and sugar. Of a little over 500 factories, there are around 100 steel mills, 30 paper mills and seven sugar mills. These combined provide employment for around 100,000 people. Apart from this, around 5,000 shops have remained shut.

The report points out that so far, the sugar industry has not been directly impacted, as the season begins in October-November. BS quoted Deepak Gupta, secretary of the UP Sugar Mills Association as saying, “We are monitoring the situation. There is unlikely to be any direct impact as of now”.

For Business Standard report click here