With the recent rain in Chennai hitting Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in the industrial estates there, the demand for developing MSMEs in other districts in the State is growing louder.
A MSME unit owner in Coimbatore said the advantage for MSMEs in the industrial estates in Chennai was continuous and high volume orders for automobile industries in Chennai and proximity to the large industries there. However, frequent occurrence of natural calamities such as the recent one would damage not only the machinery, but also the components made and the raw materials stored. If an industry was insured, it would be protected. Otherwise, the unit would be hit severely.
Another owner said districts such as Coimbatore, which were considered safe, were likely to get more investments because of such repeated calamities in Chennai. “There are many industrial estates in Chennai and MSMEs in these estates will not and cannot shift to other districts. But there is a possibility for larger industries to explore and invest in other districts in the future,” he said.
R. Ramamoorthy, former president of Codissia, said that in Coimbatore, there was entrepreneurship, skilled workforce, technology, and industrial eco system. The next concentration of the government should be on districts such as Coimbatore even in events such as Global Investors Meet. Coimbatore had the scope to develop for about 100 km radius. Industrial estates should be developed in different districts that did not have natural calamity risks, he said.
An MSME unit owner at the SIDCO Industrial Estate in Coimbatore said maintenance of the industrial estates in other districts need more focus. The estate here did not have drinking water or proper roads. MSMEs in Chennai would start looking at safe zones when there were regular floods. This time, many units suffered damages to CNC machines and electronic machinery. And so the infrastructure in the industrial estates in districts such as Coimbatore need to be improved so that MSMEs had safe zones to invest, he said.
