Industries in Coimbatore have sought more focus on the western region at the Global Investors Meet (GIM) to be held in Chennai later this month to attract investments here.
The Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia) has said that 30 % of the investments agreed to at the Meet should be diverted to in and around Coimbatore.
“Even in the previous edition of GIM we gave an option to hold the Meet here. But, we did not have proper flight connectivities then. This year, we have said that 30 % of the investments should be brought to in and around 100 km of Coimbatore,” said R. Ramamurthy, president of CODISSIA.
This is the most industrialised belt in the State and having the Meet here will take Coimbatore to the global industrial map and thus bring in more investments, he said.
The Association is promoting two industrial parks and these will attract investments from several micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs). The larger units can leverage on this, he said.
According to secretary general of Southern India Mills’ Association, K. Selvaraju, Coimbatore will get the much-needed visibility if the GIM is held here. It is an industrial city and now has adequate social infrastructure to host such an event. However, Coimbatore’s strengths are in the MSME sector and the recent investments are in sectors such as automobiles. Chennai has several large-scale industries. Coimbatore can be one of the cities where a related event to GIM can be held, he suggested.
Industry sources added that this year, there are no major fresh investments from industries in this region in sectors such as textiles and pumpsets. Though the State Government has expedited the process for granting approvals, the industrial infrastructure should be upgraded across the State, including Coimbatore, for it to attract more investments.
