Coimbatore has the potential to be the driving force for increase in exports from Tamil Nadu, said Mithun Ramdas, the newly-elected president of the Southern India Engineering Manufacturers Association (SIEMA).
Speaking at the annual meeting of the association on Friday, he said the country’s economy is robust and continues to show promise of growth. The Central government should be more inclusive and promote the Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in government projects, especially the Kusum scheme.
The Centre and the State should fund research and development initiatives, especially to support MSMEs develop competencies for the global market. There is a need to indigenise certain products so that dependency on imports can be reduced. The MSMEs also need to improve their internal efficiencies to compete globally, he said.
Mr. Ramdas welcomed the proposal to develop an electric vehicle cluster in Coimbatore.
Mr. Ramdas of Mahendra Pumps was elected president of SIEMA at the meeting and Ma Sendilkumar of Superteck Industries, Arun Ranganathan of Suguna Motors and Pumps, and Mohan Senthilkumar of Aqua Flow were elected vice-presidents of the association for 2024-2026.
