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R.Y. Narayanan

COIMBATORE, Sept. 24

WITH the textile industry, the mainstay of Coimbatore region, yet to come out of the woods, the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Coimbatore is pursuing the concept of making it an international outsourcing hub for the manufacturing industries.

The ICCI has identified three sectors — metallurgical, light engineering and the jewellery industries — for promotion in the first phase since the city has already carved a niche in these segments with skilled manpower and a dominant presence in the domestic market.

The ICCI's decision comes in the wake of a steady decline in the fortunes of traditional industries in the city in the past few years. In fact, ICCI earlier even hit upon the idea of restoring the pre-eminent position the city enjoyed in trade and commerce through a novel `Sezhumaiyana Kovai' project but had to drop the idea in view of the cost involved.

According to the President of ICCI, Mr A.V. Varadharajan, though recession in the textile industry was a national phenomenon, it had hurt Coimbatore more because of the city's dependence on it.

This was aggravated by the social disturbances the city witnessed in late 1990s. A fall out of the latter was that the city lost a quite a bit of its clientele from neighbouring towns with the local traders and businessmen opening outlets there.

A programme to make Coimbatore a favourite retail destination through `Sezhumaiyana Kovai' promotional campaign was conceived and discussions with marketing and advertisement experts were also held about promoting the city.

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