Sivaganga growth plan focuses on clusters, skill development

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An industrial profile of Tamil Nadu’s Sivaganga district says the development plan for the district includes initiatives to support the growth of SMEs, such as more cluster-specific allocations, support for skill development at the unit level, capacity-building, business incubation in selective engineering colleges and polytechnics, and creation of more techno-entrepreneurs.

The plan envisions linkages between SMEs and research and development (R&D) institutions, government support for venture capital providers for high-end R&D-based start-ups, and creation of a technology bank in the district.

Sivaganga is the constituency of Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, and the industrial profile of the district has been drawn up by the MSME Development Institute, Chennai — an agency of the Union MSME ministry.

The district, which has seen an investment of Rs 356 crore from a total of 7,428 micro and small enterprises and artisan units as of March 2012, could see more investment in the small and medium enterprises (SME) segment, if these development activities are taken up, says the document.

Small-scale industries in the district have clocked annual revenues of Rs 1,107.50 crore and medium/large units have revenues of Rs 965.87 crore, according to the report. The total number of registered industrial units in the district is estimated at 7,428, of which 18 are medium and 15 are large units, the report said.

The number of new units registered dropped steeply from 676 in 2001-02 to 203 in 2009-10, but shot up to 536 in 2010-11. New investments in these units was relatively small at Rs 3.4 crore in 2001-02, but climbed to Rs 43.4 crore in 2009-10, and rose to Rs 66 crore in 2010-11.

The number of new jobs created was only 916 in 2001-02, but shot up to 2,190 in 2009-10 and further to 4,077 in 2010-11. The report has sourced the data from the District Industries Centre at Sivaganga.

In the micro and small enterprises and artisan segment, the district has seen the highest investment in the agri-business space, such as rice mills and food products. Around 800 units, representing a total investment of 162.05 crore, employ 6,600 people in this segment.

There are also 22 cotton textiles units with an investment of Rs 21.80 crore, employing around 240 people, and 2,086 readymade garments units with total investments of Rs 18.92 crore and employing 6,384 people.

Some of the other sectors where small units are dominant include wood and wood-based furniture, mineral-based industries, metal-based industries, paper and paper products, soda water, chemicals and chemical-based industries, rubber, plastic and petro-based industries. Micro and small enterprises and artisan units employ around 35,643 people.

This district is also known for its industry clusters. It has the first-ever exclusive coir village at Singampunari, promoted by the Coir Board. This cluster does business worth Rs 95 crore every year, and houses about 1,200 units that employ some 7,190 people, according to the profile.