Coimbatore eng industry back in full swing

COIMBATORE: After a one year lull phase, the general engineering industry in the Coimbatore region is back in full force. The year-end demand this fiscal is said to be substantial and numerous small and medium enterprises in the city are working non-stop to meet the requirements.  The texcity is reckoned as a manufacturing hub with various clusters focused on the production of castings to components to spares to products, machineries and machine tools. They cater to diverse industries including automotive, textile and pump and motor both in the domestic and export markets.  The revival in year-end demand is a clear turnaround from a drab 2008-09, when the global recession and subsequent slowdown in various industries affected the general engineering industries in Coimbatore, say industry experts. They added the domestic demand is growing by leaps and bounds, while exports have also started picking up.  "The industry has taken a full circle now. Last year, same period, there was only 50% to 60% capacity utilisation. Today, we are working to full capacity and still the requirements are only increasing," said RSM Autokast JMD K Ilango.  He said, the demand is very high now and all the small and medium enterprises in the city are working hard to meet the March delivery deadline. There are about 9000 industries in the engineering cluster in Coimbatore employing 1.5 lakh people. The annual turnover is approximately pegged at Rs 20,000 crore.  "The engineering industries in Coimbatore had a problem last fiscal. The recessionary trend slowly eroded the system. So we started the year 2009 on a cautious note. But, the situation has improved in the last six months and demand peaked in the last two months," said the Ammarun Foundries general manager V Venkateshwaran.