The Hindu Business Line : Maharashtra Govt panel gives go-ahead for Pune-Pimpri auto cluster

THE long-drawn setting up of the auto cluster in the Pune-Pimpri-Chinchwad area seems to have now become a reality with it being formally approved at the meeting of the apex committee on Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme (IIUS), Ministry of Commerce.

With an estimated cost of Rs 67 crore, the auto cluster will be the first of its kind in the country with the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture (MCCIA) and the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) being the brainchild of this concept. According to Mr Abhyankar, Director-General, MCCIA, the approval is the outcome of a series of meetings that were held over the past two years, with a detailed report prepared by MITCON (Maharashtra Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation) and appraised by the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI). He noted that PCMC was the major stakeholder and its contribution would be about Rs 14.49 crore.

He said the chamber would contribute in the form of land and building to the extent of Rs 1.23 crore, and the remaining would be pooled in by other associations. The stakeholders in this project are PCMC, MCCIA, the Association for Promotion of Plastics and the All-India Rubber Industries Association.

He said the primary objective of the cluster development scheme would be to improve international competitiveness of the domestic industry, and since more than 60 per cent of the clusters in India are horizontal and offer a single produce, the scheme made it possible to have intervention for each cluster to be need-based and specifically designed.

He pointed that the scheme aimed to pick up the industrial clusters with high growth potential. The main focus will be on the strategic interventions to convert static local efficiency into competitiveness by creating a conducive ground for the development of inter firm co-operation.

It will also promote innovation and collective learningand create customised infrastructure and service network. It will also promote product design and development through focused support and association with specific research and development institutions and assist the units in developing facilities such as testing facilities, design centres and information hubs. Since the project is one of its kind for upgradation, all the auto components, manufacturers including rubber and polymer, have been requested to join hands in the promotion and development of the cluster. Associations with other institutes like engineering colleges, research and development (R & D) institutes, component manufacturers and their associations, banks, financial institutions and Government agencies, are also in the pipeline, Mr Abhyankar said.

He said the Committee has approved Rs 60 crore and also suggested to add sophisticated equipments to work for up-gradation of industrial training institutes (ITI) for which a separate proposal of Rs 7 crore would be sent as has been suggested by the Secretary. A plan comprising of a project cost of Rs 118 crore had been initially submitted. However in the first stage, the project cost of Rs 67 crore, has been approved and can be expanded in the second stage depending on the response.

As a matter of fact, the PCMC has approved in its General Body, total contribution of Rs 22 crore towards equity and Rs 5 crore towards interest-free loans, while adding that second phase also could be implemented.

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