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R.Y. Narayanan

Coimbatore , Dec. 12

FIVE industrial estates for tiny industries are being established in different regions in the State by the Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation (Tansidco), in order to give a fillip to this sector that is not capital-intensive.

The corporation, through a judicious mixture of reduction in cost of land and interest rate, has been able to dispose of a significant number of industrial sheds which remained vacant for years, according to Mr S. Rajarethinam, Managing Director, Tansidco, Chennai.

He told presspersons here on Friday that he was willing to join hands with the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) in procuring essential raw materials such as pig iron and coke in bulk and supplying them to the small-scale engineering industries in the Coimbatore region.

These industries had been hit by the continuous spiral in the prices of raw material in the past one year.

He said Vaniyambadi, Mayiladuthurai, Tiruchi, Namakkal and Theni had been identified for the establishment of industrial estates for tiny industries requiring capital investment up to Rs 25 lakh.

The proposed estate would focus on the manufacture of finished leather products in Vaniyambadi, engineering industries in Mayiladuthurai, vehicle body-building in Namakkal, agro foods in Theni and leather products in Tiruchi.

Mr Rajarethinam said investment on land by the corporation would vary from place to place.

In Namakkal and Mayiladuthurai, it would be around Rs 1 crore and in Vaniyambadi around Rs 60 lakh.

The estates at Theni, Mayiladuthurai and Vaniyambadi would come up within this fiscal and the other two would be established next year.

On whether the proposed Vaniyambadi estate would not cause pollution problems, as had been caused by tanneries in that region, Mr Rajarethinam said it was not for leather processing units but for the manufacture of finished products.

He said the corporation was also establishing an industrial estate exclusively for women at Kurichi near Coimbatore.

A 40-acre site has been identified for this purpose and the estate could accommodate 115 units.

The corporation is asking for commitments from the potential entrepreneurs while fine-tuning the proposal and discussions would be held with them on the type of units planned by them.

On the problems faced by the engineering units in the region because of the continuous rise in the prices of pig iron and coke in the past one year, Mr Rajarethinam said the industry had been asking Tansidco to import coke and supply it to the consumers. Mr Rajiv Bhatnagar, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, NSIC, who was present at the press conference, said the corporation had been helping small units requiring aluminium by negotiating with large producers for procurement and supply.

Similarly, if the units in Coimbatore region quantified their requirement for pig iron, then NSIC might negotiate with the manufacturers for supply and it might even establish a storage yard for it, he said.

Mr C.R. Swaminathan from the PSG Group said while the imported coke had low ash content, the percentage of ash content was higher in the domestic coke and there was a worldwide shortage of coke.

Mr Rajarethinam said in the past six to eight months, the corporation had been able to cut its non-performing assets by reducing the price of plots and the rate of interest.

Of the 214 industrial sheds that had remained unsold for six to eight years, Tansidco has been able to dispose of 58 industrial sheds in Chennai, Tiruchi, Coimbatore, Karaikudi and Rajapalayam.

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