The Hindu Business Line : Auto sector still tops in drawing investments to Pune, says study

THE city might be the IT industry's favoured destination, but Pune still retains its original title as the Detroit of India, according to a just published study of the new manufacturing capacities in the city since 2001, conducted by the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture.

According to the study, published in the form of a booklet, at least half of the Rs 800-crore new investments attracted by the city since 2001 has been from the auto industry. The segment also emerged as the top employment creators in Pune.

The study, however, does not include any data on the SME sector, education or the IT and BPO segment, which has emerged as one of the biggest investors and employment generators in the city in the last 2-3 years.

"We are planning separate surveys for these three segments of the industry over the next year," the MCCIA President, Mr Ravi Pandit, said.

The survey, based on the `Industrial Entrepreneur's Memorandum' to be filed by medium and large scale manufacturing units setting up new operations or adding more than 25 per cent capacity, found that of the 128 new proposals made since 2000, 19 were from the auto, auto components and auto-electrical segment, indicating that the business continues to drive growth in the city. There were also over 40 proposals from the sectors that support the auto-industry such as mechanical, electrical parts, forgings, rubber and plastic polymers etc.

Interestingly, while the region has attracted major multinational investments in the recent years, the survey found that new investments are actually moving away from the main city area to industrial hubs such as Ranjangaon and Chakan in the last five years. For instance, with Korean major LG setting up operations in Ranjangaon, the MIDC industrial estate is now host to a slew of vendors supplying to it. The same is also true for the Chakan belt where Bajaj Auto has set up its new manufacturing facility.

The survey also finds the region has attracted significant number of proposals in the electronic goods, chemicals, food products and pharmaceuticals with industrial alcohol being a dominant segment attracting investments. At least half the proposals in the latter are for the production of ethanol, Ms Manasi Phadke, the economist who put the survey together said.

Meanwhile, the MCCIA, which is now on a drive to study the economics of the city, is also partnering with the educational institutions in the city and the University of Pune, to help design courses that will meet the requirements of the industry in the region.

"We are working with the university to the change their computer science course to meet the IT industry's needs and are designing courses to complement the college curriculum in the commerce stream. On offer will be courses in International Contract Drafting, Intellectual Property Rights and Business Process Definition, among other things," Mr Pandit said.

The MCCIA is also currently engaged in getting faculty from the International School of Business and the IIMs to train staff at the city's colleges and MBA courses, he added.