SIEMA to develop ‘Made in Coimbatore’ brand
President of the Association Jayakumar Ramdass told the SIEMA would organise a meeting here in January on Geographical Indication. The Association was trying to get GI for pumpsets made here as the city had a substantial market share. Subsequently, the SIEMA proposed to develop a common logo that would indicate that the products were made in Coimbatore and draft a set of standards for these products. The Association would hold talks with 15 to 20 leading pumpset manufacturers here and encourage them to use the logo.
Mr. Ramdass said Coimbatore pumpsets were known for quality and efficiency and through the common branding, the image of the products made here would improve.He said that during the last one year, the domestic market for pumpsets had been positive. Coimbatore manufactured mainly agricultural and domestic pumpsets. The stimulus package given by the government to farmers provided them with liquidity and they were able to spend on pumpsets. The reduction of Excise Duty from eight per cent to four per cent also brought down the prices.
With a good market, the sale of pumpsets from Coimbatore went up by nearly 20 per cent during the last one year.However, the market might not remain buoyant in 2010 because of the erratic monsoon and the poor power situation in almost all the States. Some of the States had banned borewells temporarily because of the power shortage.The high interest rates were also having an impact on the bottomline of the units.He said the Union Government should continue the stimulus packages to help the industries stabilise with a good market. In Tamil Nadu, shortage of skilled manpower was another area of concern. The State Government should immediately improve the industrial training institutes and establish new institutes.
