Rajkot Hardware Manufacturers’ Association recently celebrated its 10th anniversary by reiterating its objective of adding more manufacturers’ association under its umbrella and widening its membership drive. Speaking on the occasion, Jayheshbhai Chavda, president of the association and owner of Shreeji Metal, highlighted that the association has grown from being a 10-member body to a commanding membership of over 350.

“The association was founded by Vaju Babiya, owner of ServoTech Industries; Shambhu Kotadiya, owner of Pioneer Metal; Bharat Hapani, owner of KICH Architectural Products; Somesh Malik, owner of Quba Architectural Hardware Products; and Arjun Shingala, owner of SKS and myself,” Chavda informed.

“We are an active body when it comes to recommending policies to the government and commenting on issues related to the hardware industry,” he said, adding that the association was at the forefront in engaging with the central government for lowering the GST rates for hardware products. “We started off as an association for hardware manufacturers. As time progressed, we reached out to Zink Manufacturer Association, and gradually included SS hardware products, brass hardware industries, and more recently aluminum products; they are all our members now.” According to Chavda, the association has 21 committee members.

The association is focused on creating awareness about key governance and compliance issues. Three GST seminars have already been conducted in Rajkot for the benefit of members. This year, shared Chavda, the association will issue membership certificates and identity cards to its members.