Industrial park for electric and electronic components to come up at Sulur

Coimbatore: An industrial park with focus on manufacturing defence, electric and electronic components would come up at Sulur in the city.
In a response to a query by Singanallur MLA N Karthik in the assembly on establishing an integrated industrial park to manufacture defence, electric and electronic components, minister for industries M C Sampath said the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) would acquire 300 acres at Sulur to set up the industrial park.
While the prospect of a defence manufacturing park in the district and the Coimbatore’s place in the defence corridor have already been talked about, the inclusion of manufacturing electric and electronic components in the park would be a major boost for industrial scenario here, say industrialists.
They say this would be a major boost in three ways: the existing demand for electrical and electronic components among local industries would be met; big players setting up plants in the district would mean business for smaller players such as job works firms; and it would be easy for automobile and auto parts industries which form a major part of Coimbatore’s industry, to switch over to making electric vehicles, which is taking shape as the future.
“Five years ago, the number of units manufacturing electric and electronic items in the district was around 250 and now it has grown to around 600,” R Surendran, president of the Electrical and Electronics Industrial Estate on Avinashi Road, which has 36-member industries, said. The units in Coimbatore manufacture electronic components used in textile and garment machinery, solar inverters and machine components for automation.
Six hundred units too was a small number compared to the magnitude of consumption of electric and electronic components by industry in the district, Surendran said. “To keep pace with the demand for electric and electronic parts from the district’s industry, there must be at least 3,000 units to manufacture them,” he said. The industrial park would be a step in that direction, he added.
Another issue faced by manufacturers of electrical and electronic parts from the district is sourcing raw material. Surendran said the units needed raw material such as printed circuit boards, switch gears, wires and control drives. “Currently, we are buying raw material from Bengaluru and Mumbai. If the park comes up, big players would set up plants here, which would ease the flow of raw materials,” he said.
President of Coimbatore Sidco Industrial Estate Manufacturers Welfare Association (Cosiema) S Surulivel said the park would also be open for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to tap markets such as defence production and manufacture of electrical and electronic components.
“The shift to manufacturing electrical and electronic components is necessary, as in the future there would be no conventional automobiles,” Surulivel said. A large part of Coimbatore’s industry comprises auto parts manufacturing and if they have to sustain, they have to take up manufacturing defence components or electrical and electronic components.