chennai mounting losses and idle machines forced by the crippling economic slowdown are pushing companies to borrow from banks to pay the statutory 833 bonus for diwali some are negotiating with workmen whereby the bonus is paid in 2 instalments one now and second for sankaranthi or pongal in january among those which are paying bonus the rate of payment is lower at 10 to 15 against 25 last year many auto parts makers are considering nonpayment of bonus not even the statutory minimum of 833 of payeconomic slowdown is crippling the industrial corridors of the country and among sectors worst hit is the automotive sector an area of traditional strength for tamil nadu which is witnessing decadal lows in demand and companies and parts makers are stopping production to clear inventory pile upa n sujeesh president of ambattur industrial estate manufacturers association said business performance of small units has taken a hit many member companies may only meet the statutory bonus requirement of 833 while no exgratia bonus extra bonus amount paid from the companys share of profit will be awarded this yearindustry association heads of the small businesses have said the average festive bonus has dropped to 10 to 15 now from 2025 awarded in the previous year due to poor market performanceemployees receive the festive bonus at least 23 weeks prior to diwali but currently members of small scale unit association are contemplating on how to split the bonus and pay it in two installments for diwali and pongal said r ramamoorthy president of codissia in coimbatore codissia is the largest industry body in western tnsince no one wants to default on statutory bonus payment of 833 many companies have borrowed from banks and finance companies for example protel labs pvt ltd and eirfid solutions pvt ltd has borrowed money for bonus payments anirban chatterjee director of the companies said we have borrowed money at 12 from banks and 18 from nbfcs to pay the bonus this year we have about 110 employees and it is a matter of maintaining their trust though we have a decent order book there is not sufficient liquidity to exercise the orders received which means banks are not ready to lend money against our order bookvasudevan secretary general of tanstia said the automobile players may not be able to meet even the statutory requirement this year we are confused and in distress to allocate bonus for our workers this year most players are borrowing money from banks to pay the bonus since our pockets are empty however fmcg players do not seem to feel much pressure due to pick up in sales in the ongoing festive month it was unfair of the government to expect us to comply with the rules in paying bonus vasudevan addeda coimbatorebased autocomponent manufacturer who does not want to be named said diwali bonus would be split into two parts such that we can buy time till pongal as auto segment is seeing the worst