As part of the efforts to give a push to micro industries, steps have been initiated for the establishment of a multi-storeyed industrial estate at Thirumazhisai near Chennai at a cost of Rs 20 crore, according to P. Mohan, Minister for Rural Industries, Government of Tamil Nadu.
He said efforts were also on to form two industrial estates near Coimbatore to house 600 industrial units.
Inaugurating the 14th International Industrial Trade Fair Coimbatore (INTEC 2013) here on Thursday, he said in the past, industrial estates were formed without even making the necessary land acquisition.
Land bank
But now the Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has ordered that land should be selected at the time of formation of industrial estates and has ordered the creation of a land bank of 2,000 acres to facilitate the establishment of industrial estates.
He said in Coimbatore also, steps have been taken for establishing industrial estates close to Avinashi Road and Tiruchi road to house 600 industrial units.
He said in Tamil Nadu, the cumulative investment made by the MSME sector exceeded Rs 48,000 crore and the nearly 8.44 lakh registered units employed more than 58 lakh workers. Responding to the pleas made by industry associations, the Chief Minister had recently announced reliefs amounting to about Rs 97 crore. He said because of the boost given to MSMEs by the State Government, exports have reached Rs 20,000 crore.
S.M. Velusamy, Mayor, Coimbatore Corporation, pointing out how the Technology Upgradation Fund scheme benefited the textile industries, wanted a similar scheme to assist the MSMEs. Pollachi V. Jayaraman, Deputy Speaker, Tamil Nadu Assembly, suggested to Codissia to take steps for the establishment of an engineering college and a polytechnic to meet the needs for qualified technical manpower to run the industries in the region.
Farm mechanisation
S. Damodaran, Minister for Agriculture, Tamil Nadu, said faced with acute labour shortage, mechanisation of farm operations had become a necessity and the State Government has allotted about Rs 124 crore to supply farm implements at subsidised rates. K.Dhanavel, Principal Secretary, MSME, Government of Tamil Nadu, said the MSMEs accounted for 10 per cent of the gross State domestic product. P. Udayakumar, Director, Planning and Marketing, NSIC, New Delhi, urged the sector to capitalise on the decision of the Centre making purchase of the needs of PSUs and government departments up to certain limit from MSMEs mandatory.