Diversion of oxygen for medical purpose to tackle rising cases of the pandemic in India will have severe adverse effect of small and medium scale units across key industries, rating agency, CARE said on Friday, April 23.
According the rating agency, revenues of small and medium sized companies in key sectors like metal fabrication, automotive components, shipbreaking and engineering were expected to be impacted as more volume of oxygen for industrial use is diverted for medical purposes.
It is estimated that on-site captive oxygen plants for industries account for 75-80 percent of India’s total production capacity while the balance is provided through merchant sales through cryogenic tanks and cylinders.
Another rating agency, Icra said that the second wave of the pandemic and lockdown might impact business performances of industries in the first quarter of current fiscal and that the agency will revisit sectoral outlook of each industries.
It said that while there are some sectors with a negative outlook, some more industries and sector could get added to the list.
CARE has also announced that it is beginning to a fresh review of sectors and companies.