The Hindu Business Line : Coimbatore industries urged to capitalise on Railway project

Coimbatore, Jan 8 There will be enormous opportunities for the engineering industries in Coimbatore to become suppliers to the railway coach factory to come up at Kanjikode in Palakkad district since Kerala does not have much industrial activity.

The industries in the Coimbatore region, which have low exposure to government organisations, should also increase their exposure to government business and PSUs since they are sure of getting their money from them, according to Mr. K.M. Unni, Deputy Chief Materials Manager, Southern Railway.

Buyer-seller meet

Speaking at the inaugural function of the buyer-seller meet jointly organised by the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia) and National Small Industries Corporation Ltd (NSIC) here on Wednesday, he said there were apprehensions among the industrialists about timely receipt of payment for the supplies made to Government organisations and PSUs. But this was not so and once the entrepreneurs work closely with these institutions, they would realise that their money was secure and would receive the payments for the supplies made.

He said with the global economy facing crisis, entrepreneurs were pondering over the question of survival. He said there would be a lot of opportunities to supply to the Railways. He said the Railways was coming out with a coach factory at Kanjikode in neighbouring Palakkad district in Kerala and there would be Rs 2,000 crore-Rs 3,000 crore purchase opportunity available. BEML would be putting up a unit at Kanjikode. Since there were fewerindustries in Kerala, Coimbatore industries have a lot of potential and if they sincerely work hard and perform well, they would have great opportunities.

e-procurement

Mr Unni advised entrepreneurs not to concentrate only on getting orders but ensure timely supply and should build confidence between the buyer and supplier. He said the Government organisations, including Railways, have gone for e-procurement which facilitated responding to tenders electronically and issue of orders online and he offered to help the Coimbatore entrepreneurs in familiarising themselves with this procedure.

Exhibitions

Mr K. Ilango, President of Codissia, expressed disappointment over the announcement by BHEL to open a sourcing office at Shanghai when it could do that at Coimbatore. He said BHEL was coming to Coimbatore and ‘we will ensure they come to Coimbatore’.

He said a series of exhibitions such as Fabtec, to be held later this month, and Intec have been planned at Coimbatore, that would provide enormous opportunities to the industries here to source new business.

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