Codissia invested 400 Cr
The rise in rupee has not hampered investments made by the SSI sector in and around Coimbatore. The total investment made by the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia) during last year in plant modernisation and in capacity expansion was about Rs 400 crore. This was far higher than the investment made during a normal year, which is around Rs 100 crore, an industry official said. Mr K V Ganapathi, Codissia member and chairman, Intec 2008, an international trade fair organised by the association, said that much of the investment made last year was by foundries which catered to the auto component sector and by companies in machining, sheet metal, die-making, plastic moulding and software sectors. Of the total 600-odd foundry units in and around Coimbatore, most of them were on an expansion or modernisation drive. The foundries in Coimbatore have invested over Rs 300 crore on expansion projects and the monthly casting production has doubled in the last three years. The total monthly casting production has gone up from about 25,000 tonne in 2004 to nearly 45,000 tonne in 2006. And this is likely to cross 60,000 tonne a month by the end of this fiscal. And almost 20 % of the total production goes for exports (direct and indirect) to most of the European countries.Mr Ganapathi said the small scale industries in and around Coimbatore had never seen such an investment in a single year as during last year. This investment by companies has had an impact on their performance with turnover of individual companies going up by a minimum of 25 % to as high as 200 %. While the industries witnessed a boom in demand, there was also a shortage of skilled and unskilled labour and the wages went up by 20-25 % in the past one year. Mr Ganapathi said the 10th edition of the International fair — INTEC 2008 — organised by Codissia would be held from February 1 to 6. He said about 522 stalls have been booked and nearly 200 exhibitors from 14 countries will be participating in the show. On the expected business from the fair, he said during the last exhibition, the volume of business generated was around Rs 750 crore. This time, he expected this to touch the Rs 1,000 crore in view of the substantial increase in the number of domestic and international participants and because of the distinct improvement in the investment climate.
