The Hindu Business Line : Coimbatore SSI biz confidence `high'

BUSINESS confidence, which was hit by prolonged recession and the 1998 serial bomb blast, seems to have made a come back in Coimbatore with the investment in the small scale sector witnessing an increase during last year.

The export performance of companies in the SSI sector, which is dominated by the engineering industry, accounted for nearly 25 per cent of the growth in turnover, indicating growing confidence of the small-scale units in meeting the needs of the export market.

Giving the overall investment scenario among the small industrial units in Coimbatore, Mr K.V. Ganapathi, Vice-Chairman, INTEC 2005, organised by the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia) and Mr K. Ilango, Secretary, Codissia, said the total investment made by Codissia members during last year in plant modernisation and in capacity expansion was about Rs 250 crore. This was far higher than the investment made during a normal year - around Rs 100 crore.

Much of the investment made last year was by foundries that catered to the auto component sector and by companies in machining, sheet metal, die making, plastic moulding and software sectors.

They said that the small-scale industries in and around Coimbatore had never seen such an investment in a single year as during last year. This investment by companies has had an impact on their performance with turnover of individual companies going up by a minimum of 25 per cent to as high as 200 per cent.

While the industries witnessed a boom in demand, there was also a shortage of skilled and unskilled labour and the wages went up by 20-25 per cent in the past one year.

Mr Ilango said 25 per cent of the growth in sales has come from exports, indicating the confidence of the small units in catering to the needs of the overseas clients.

Mr Ganapathi said the 8th edition of the International fair - INTEC 2005 - organised by Codissia would be held from July 6 to 12. and would be inaugurated by the President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

He said about 425 stalls have been booked and nearly 350 exhibitors from India and 50 from abroad will be participating in the show. The number of Indian exhibitors participating in the fair this year is substantially higher than in the previous INTEC fair.

On the expected business from the fair, he said during the last exhibition, the volume of business generated was around Rs 300 crore. This time, he expected this to double to Rs 600 crore in view of the substantial increase in the number of domestic and international participants and because of the distinct improvement in the investment climate.

Mr K. Balachandran, Vice-President, Codissia, said delegates from Germany and Sri Lanka are visiting the fair. A `National Summit on Manufacturing-Challenges and Opportunities' will be among the events to be organised during the fair.

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