Coimbatore’s first industrial park for micro and cottage industries getting ready

Coimbatore: After more than a decade since the idea of an industrial park exclusively for micro and cottage industries in the city was touted, it has become a reality now. The city's first industrial estate for micro units is ready at Keeranatham.
While the construction activity for the units is set to commence, there are plans to set up two more such industrial parks for themselves in Coimbatore in the coming years.
"Our association has 5,500 members from Coimbatore and Tirupur districts. Following the Keeranatham project, we are discussing plans to establish additional industrial parks in Kovilpalayam and Arasur, each covering about 5 to 10 acres, as part of the next phase," said Sivakumar, president of Coimbatore Tirupur Micro Cottage Entrepreneurs Association (Cotma).
For now, Cotma has set in motion the process of allocating land to entrepreneurs running micro units at the Keeranatham industrial park.
"The plan is to help 27 units, currently operating in rented buildings in Coimbatore city, to move into their own buildings outside the city. They can benefit from shared common facilities to be provided at the industrial park," said Sivakumar.
These units will purchase between two and seven cents of land each and set up sheds in the industrial park. Cotma purchased 2.19 acres of land and registered a special purpose vehicle (SPV) called COTMA Industrial Park in 2023.
"The total project cost is approximately ₹12 crore. Compared to acquiring land from private promoters, the establishment of the industrial park by our association allows beneficiaries to obtain land at a significantly lower price. We will be offering it at ₹6 lakh per cent. The land allocation will begin next week," Sivakumar added. Industries such as conventional lathe, CNC, and plastic injection moulding are expected to be set up in the park.
Currently, micro industries are functioning across the district, in several localities along Mettupalayam Road, Thadagam Road, Sathy Road, Avinashi Road and Trichy Road.
"Since the micro units are scattered, we were not able to form a cluster and avail benefits like subsidies for establishing common facilities meant for micro industries from the state. Now, we could avail these benefits in Keeranatham industrial park,'' said an entrepreneur running a micro unit.
Though the micro industries do not match up to their larger counterparts in terms of production volume and job creation, they play a key role in driving entrepreneurship, eventually growing into large industries. These units carry out outsourced works for bigger industries and supply spares for units that manufacture components for textile sector, defence sector, wet grinder industry and pump industries.
COTMA plans to develop infrastructure at the park, including roads, a common facility centre, and drainage systems, with assistance from the local body under the ‘Namakku Naame' scheme.
The next two industrial parks would be bigger in scale as Cotma plans to accommodate more units there.