SIEMA Will Help Coimbatore's Share
The Southern India Engineering Manufacturers’ Association (SIEMA) will work towards increasing Coimbatore’s share in the domestic pumpset market. Its president Jayakumar Ramdass told on Saturday that earlier Coimbatore had almost 70 per cent share. However, it declined gradually and was at 45 per cent now. “In the next two years, we are looking at developing Coimbatore to regain the earlier share in the domestic pumpset market,” he said.
Manufacturers should be equipped with awareness on various issues and should be able to compete to achieve a larger market. Earlier, Coimbatore was one of the few centres in the country to manufacture pumpsets. However, pumpset manufacturing was common even in smaller towns now. Further, with easy availability of components, assembled sets were sold in large numbers in the market. “In order to compete in such a scenario, Coimbatore manufacturers should be able to give quality at affordable prices. They should reach out to consumers,” he said.
The manufacturers should adopt innovative working methods, increase the production volume during the season (October to March), modernise their factories and invest on various technologies. “We need to ensure that pumpsets made here are unique.” Hence, the association planned to organise a series of programmes on these issues. A meeting on credit rating was held last week. Credit rating would help the companies know their position in the market. Though the association had over 200 members, less than 10 per cent had credit rating. “We are talking to various credit rating agencies for a special package for the micro, small and medium-scale units,” he said.
Next month, the association planned to have a programme on logistics. Logistics companies had warehouse facilities. Manufacturers here should use these to ensure timely supply of pumpsets to dealers. It also proposed to have sessions on the financial aspects. “We are also negotiating with banks to come out with a package for pumpset units,” he said. Apart from these, technical sessions would be organised on technical subjects (stamping, bearings, etc) since these were important for the units. Further, Coimbatore units were concentrating on water pumpsets for domestic and agricultural purpose. The units should diversify and tap the potential in the special pump market, he added.
