The Hindu Business Line : Entrepreneurship resurrects an industrial estate

Madurai, June 30 The Madurai Hosiery Industries Association (MAHIA) Industrial Estate at Uranganpatti on Madurai-Sivaganga Road is a testimony to the edifying spirit of entrepreneurship permeating among the native entrepreneurs.

They have resurrected the estate, established in 1993, from a near morbid stage and today, it is abuzz with activities, employing 3,000 people from in and around 40 villages of which women employees number more.

In an interview to Business Line, Mr A.K.B. Nawas Babu , President of the association, along with Mr S. Ragunathan, Secretary and Mr R.S. Somappa, Treasurer, said the first cluster based integrated estate in the country, conceived with an idea to replicate Tiruppur and become an export hub with 147 sheds on a 90 acre site, promoted by the District Industries Centre and Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO), suffered a setback and fell into difficult times around the year 2000, with hardly 20 units functioning.

Recession period

The general recession during the period coupled with absence of fabric processing facilities and higher interest rate of 19.75 payable to Tamilnadu Industries Investment Corporation (TIIC), made the estate become a casualty.

The units could not maintain the delivery schedules and failed, he said.

On the successful resurrection of the estate, he said that a conscious decision was taken by the office-bearers to market the estate citing the positive factors in association with the Madurai District Tiny and Small Industries Association and also allow green units to utilise the infrastructural facilities in the estate.

The Madurai airport can be reached in 20 minutes and the association has taken all efforts to fulfil all the needs like water, street lighting, underground sewage, common security, waste removal, office assistance etc. TIIC also cooperated to part with the sheds in their custody for an ‘option price’, he added.

Future growth

On future growth, he said that the estate has a good potential for a vertical growth as the sheds, each on 25 cents, has the capacity for three stories and software units especially would find them more beneficial.

With improvement in connectivity through bus and banking facilities to the estate, the employment potential could go up to 5,000 by 2010, he mentioned.

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