The Early Years of the new century witnessed rapid industrialisation along the Salem-Coimbatore corridor. When industries in Tirupur, Coimbatore and other industrial towns were planning for expansion, SIPCOT’s 2000-acre industrial park came as the obvious choice. The complex has over 2500 acres of developed land and over 260 acres in a Special Economic Zone.
CRI Pumps, KG Fabriks, Krishna Textile Processing, Saint Gobain, Parryware Roca, Premier Mills set up manufacturing units in Perundurai, which emerged a preferred location for many large and medium businesses. Several of these units produce for exports.
Pumps for the globe…
Established in 1961, CRI Pumps manufactures stainless steel submersible pumps, motors, vertical multistage pumps, pressure boosting systems and industrial pumps. Last year, exports from this unit earned Rs 95 crore and in the current year it is expected to touch Rs 200 crore. CRI Pumps has offices in South Africa, China, and some countries in Europe. The overall turnover of the group is around Rs 1200 crore.
A billion dollar subsidiary…
Saint Gobain, has a sintered and electro-fusions production facility at Perundurai. Specifically meant for exports, it commenced production at the new fused cast refractories plant set up with an investment of Rs 350 crore with Rs 160 crore spent in the first.
M Punithavel, Plant Director, expects the other phases to be complete soon. The refractors plant at Palakkad caters to domestic customer who include Rane Brake Lining and Sundaram Fasteners.
Surviving the do or die challenge
When numerous dyeing units had to shut down a few years ago on the zero discharge mandate, some of them survived through timely upgradation of pollution control measures. One such is Premier Mills that is into textile processing and fabric dyeing.
An indigenous player in a niche market
The SIPCOT industrial Growth Centre also constitutes a company that represents a niche market with a growth potential of around 30 per cent year-on-year. Paranthaman Exporters (PRD) is an indigenous manufacturer of drilling rigs in India. It expects a turnover of Rs 150 crore for the upcoming year. Perundurai also has a medical and an engineering college run by the Institute of Road Transport for the children of the employees of the state transport corporation. n
