Scheme to promote coir units to be implemented soon

Coir Board will soon implement a scheme to provide financial assistance to coir units that want to go in for modern machinery and better technology.

Coir Board chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan told presspersons here on Friday that the new programme called Coir Industry and Trade Upgradation Scheme will be introduced by the MSME Ministry to be implemented by the board and will provide 25 % of the cost of the machinery or a maximum of ₹2.5 crore as subsidy. This will help the coir units modernise. Coir exports are expected to touch ₹3,000 crore this financial year as against nearly ₹2,800 crore last year.

Earlier, inaugurating a two-day vendor development programme organised by MSME Development Institute and Coimbatore SIDCO Industrial Estate Manufacturers’ Association, Mr. Radhakrishnan said efforts are on to bring a defence cluster and defence park to Coimbatore. “The present Union Government allows private industries to manufacture for the defence sector. Coimbatore is a well-known industrial hub. We want the units here to make use of the opportunities in the defence sector,” he said.

He also assured to take up the issue of non-performing assets among MSMEs with the Prime Minister and arrive at a solution soon. A bankers meeting will be held here with the MSME Development Institute to ensure that the Start Up India scheme is implemented, he said.

According to R. Baskaran, chief workshop manager of S & T Workshops, Southern Railway, Podanur, the workshop’s turnover this year is expected to be ₹140 crore. Of this, orders to the tune of ₹25 crore have been given to industries in Coimbatore.

S. Surulivel, president of the association, said there are 80 stalls at the event and of these, 16 are by public sector enterprises. In the remaining, MSMEs have displayed their products. They expect business enquiries worth ₹30 crore to ₹40 crore.