Sri City, an integrated business township in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, is fast developing into a logistic hub.

Located about 55 km from Chennai, the manufacturing — and potentially warehousing — centre already has over 100 companies. Several FMCG companies are in the process of establishing their facilities.

If enquiries are any indication, a number of electronics and aerospace units may also come up in the township.

Ramesh Subramaniam, President of Sri City, told Business Line recently that some major companies are homing in on the township because of is logistics-cum-warehouse facilities.

Tata Advanced Systems, which has a chopper cabin manufacturing facility near Hyderabad international airport, recently visited Sri City to explore the possibility of setting up a warehouse for its chopper cabins, he said.

Connected well with Chennai port, the hub offers an ideal location for companies to set up not only their manufacturing bases but also to have large distribution-cum-warehouse facilities.

With several multinational companies such as Alstom, Danieli, Kobelco, Isuzu Colgate-Palmolive, Kellogg’s and Cadbury’s setting up their bases, there is a huge potential for logistics players.

Alstom, which has set up a manufacturing facility for rail coaches for the Indian market, may possibly supply to other regions.

Lavazza, the global coffee company that has presence in over 90 countries, has made Sri City its hub for global supplies.

With Isuzu setting up its auto facility, a clutch of Japanese auto ancillary units are expected to come up in the region.

Sri City is also looking at wooing electronics companies from Japan and China to make this an integrated hub. For certain sectors such as automotive and electronics, a cluster of companies of related firms at one location works out better from a warehouse and logistics angle.

This is particularly true in the case of companies located in an SEZ and exporting to various parts of the world. Ravindra Sannareddy, Managing Director of Sri City, said the facility has the potential to attract over 300 companies in all.

Of this, more than 100 are in the pipeline and many others are in talks, including the likes of GSK.

Once the facility gets fully occupied including with those in the food and food processing industries, there will be immense scope for several other service segments such as cold storage chains, it is observed.

One of three National Investment Manufacturing Zones selected for Andhra Pradesh is poised to come up in Chittoor.

With the Government planning to develop the Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor, several manufacturing companies are looking at setting up their bases in the region.

In addition, with the proposal to develop another Major Port at Duggirajapatnam in Nellore district with financial support from JICA, logistics services in the region are expected to get a further boost.

> rishikumar.vundi@thehindu.co.in

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