coimbatore-tamilnadu

Bangalore's GDP zooms ,Coimbatore grows at 7%

2008-02-03T05:50:00.000-08:00

Bangalore's GDP zooms past other metros

You may be stuck in traffic but Bangalore is not. Bangalore is the fastest metro. No we are not looking at the speedometer of your car. We are talking about economic growth.

The country's IT hotbed has zoomed past the other metros with a growth rate of 10.3 percent to become the fastest growing region in terms of economic prosperity. That’s according to a study released by research firm - Indicus Analytics that calculates GDP figures at district and city-levels.

Bangalore recorded the highest growth over the last 7 fiscal years. The rest of the urban regions saw a growth rate of less than nine percent.

It was the highest in the south too, ahead of Hyderabad and Chennai by almost 4 percent. in fact the closest was Coimbatore which registered a growth of 7.8%

The credit for Bangalore's stellar numbers goes to the i-t industry that continues to boom.

" I don't think there is a parallel to the ecosystem in Bangalore. Its not roads and metro it's the entire ecosystem starting from schools to colleges to institutions its only Bangalore that can give that ecosystem that it requires" says MN Vidyashankar, IT Secretary, Karnataka.

Bangalore continues to reap the benefits of an aggressive state government that has been quick to clear investments worth Rs 100000 crore in IT and ITES in the last 5 months.

But it’s not all-good news. Economists in the city fear that if physical infrastructure does not improve drastically Bangalore may begin to lose out to competition and will not be able to sustain its double-digit growth.

" Over the next 3-5 years if they do not act on the transport infrastructure they will lose their edge" adds Rupa Chanda, Prof-eco & social sciences, IIM (B)

So the good times may not last as increasing costs of real estate and skilled manpower may make Bangalore lose its top spot.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/business/bangalores-gdp-zooms-past-other-metros/12/43/324385

Coimbatore Zoological Park and Conservation Center (CZPCC),

2008-02-02T00:24:00.000-08:00

http://www.nilgiribiopark.com/about_us.html

A trek in the Anaikatty forest is a great way to get up close and personal with Nature

2008-02-02T00:21:00.000-08:00

Dance of the peacocks

A trek in the Anaikatty forest is a great way to get up close and personal with Nature

PHOTO:K. ANANTHAN

SPOT THAT BIRD The green bee-eater is one of the many birds that can be spotted at the Anaikatty forest

"Ssssshhh... ," says naturalist P. Pramod. "Silence is important while bird watching. Now, identify the spotted dove from the laughing dove just by their sounds," he tells members of the Salim Ali Naturalist Forum (SANF). And, it works.

An early morning trek in the Anaikatty forest is a great way to get up close and personal with Nature. And, watch birds. Dancing peacocks, hummingbirds and tunnel spiders add to the experience.

We first sight a pair of owlets. Indian robins, grey jungle fowls and grey partridges... .Pramod keeps spotting them effortlessly and Nature enthusiasts accompanying him, quickly leaf through Salim Ali's History of Indian Birds for details. A pair of binoculars provides a clearer picture. "That is a tailor bird," says Pramod, pointing to a small tailed brightly coloured bird with a bright green upper part and a whitish under part. "It collects large leaves, pierces them with its sharp beak and sews together a nest. That explains its name."

We spot a couple of good singers — the beautiful female Iora, a common bird with a yellow body and a black streak; and the magpie robin, another common bird in South India.

Suddenly, it's bliss. A flock of peacocks comes out of hiding, displaying their blue-green plumage and dancing merrily. A sight to behold!

Then, the tunnel spiders catch our attention. These spiders, found under logs and rocks, have built a silken tunnel with a wide entrance that alerts the spider to the presence of potential prey.

The Anaikatty forest is also home to elephants, gaur, leopard, spotted deer and the black-necked hare.

"The marks on the trees are an indication of the presence of elephants. They rub themselves on smooth trees to clean their skin," Pramod says.

The slender, rich-hued green bee-eater, colourful hoopoe birds, brilliantly plumaged sunbirds and green sandpipers (the migratory birds from the Himalayas) and Tickell's flower pecker (the smallest bird in India) make their appearances and disappear in a flash.

"The Western Ghats and the North-Eastern Himalayas find a place in the list of 28 global bio-diversity hotspots. This is based on the diversity of flora and fauna and the endemic species," Pramod says, guiding the team along a stream.

The birdcalls

Deep inside the forest, it's absolutely still. The chirping of birds is music to the ears. As you settle down on the boulders, Pramod has another request.

"Close your eyes for 10 minutes and identify the birds by their cries." Tree pies, bulbuls, babblers, peacocks... each sound is distinct.

The SANF, functioning since 2003, is a platform for those who love Nature and want to contribute towards its conservation.

It conducts camps for school and college students, and organises bird watching camps, trekking, discussions and afforestation drives.

The Nature Education Division of the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) in Anaikatty, Coimbatore, co-ordinates this programme. For details, call: 0422 2657103-5; e-mail neosacon@gmail.com or visit www.sacon.org.

You can write to them at SACON, Anaikatty P.O., Coimbatore - 641108.

http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/04/28/stories/2007042800670200.htm

A ‘bank’ that gives higher returns

2007-12-30T02:45:00.000-08:00

M.V. Book Bank now operates from 14 centres across the State
COST-EFFECTIVE: Engineering students selecting books at the M.V. Book Bank in the city.
COIMBATORE: A higher interest rate usually attracts more number of customers to deposit their money in a particular bank. But with just a deposit of Rs. 300, this bank overtakes any other in terms of gains to its customers. The bank we are talking about is the M.V. Book Bank.
If you are wondering as to how a book bank can offer you higher returns, then read on. The Coimbatore branch of this bank is a franchisee of the one that was started in Chennai in 1996 by engineering student V. Sairam, along with his friends.
The bank now operates from 14 centres across the State. It caters to all disciplines of engineering students. The centres house 2,000 titles and three lakh volumes. The Coimbatore centre that opened last month is the 14th in the list.
B.K. Sasidhara Kumar, Branch Administrator of the Coimbatore branch, says: “The Chennai bank had some 200 engineering students from Coimbatore as members. They were collecting books from Chennai. So we decided to open a franchisee here. We have at present 11,000 books.”
The bank functions thus: When a student registers, he or she pays a non-refundable one-time fee of Rs. 1,000. A refundable caution deposit of Rs. 900 is collected, which on withdrawal of membership is refunded. Once the student is a member, he pays Rs. 300 as the subscription fee for a whole semester. This enables him to get six prescribed books. The student can retain the books for six months. The books should be returned at the end of the semester.
The students can then collect the next semester’s books, or withdraw the membership if they wish to. This is the basic scheme. “They can also choose from the Diamond, Gold, Classic or Premium schemes. These enable them to make better use of the bank,” points out Mr. Kumar.
The bank continuously updates its editions depending on the revised syllabus of universities and colleges. “We keep visiting the colleges often to find out whether there is a change. Since all our centres are connected online, there is never a shortage of books. If a book is not available at any particular centre, it can be brought from the nearest centre in 24 hours. So, we can handle any number of students.”
The students are given a dedicated login ID with which they can access the bank’s website for availability and reservation of books. They need only to physically visit the bank twice, to collect and return. Depending on the choice of scheme, they can also exchange or borrow books for reference.
Mr. Kumar is of the opinion that the bank is very popular among parents more than the students as it helps them get all the books from under one roof.
“The subscription amount for retaining six books for the same number of months is not even one-tenth of the actual cost of the books.” What more returns can one expect from any bank? With its mantra “Say No to Xerox Copies”, the bank aims at bringing students back to the habit of reading directly from their ‘own’ books. For details, contact www.mvbookbank.org.; or visit the local centre at 110, Chinnasamy Naidu Road, New Sidhapudur, between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.; or call Mr. Kumar at 99419-19293.

Tidel Park works commence

2007-12-14T23:27:00.000-08:00

REVIEWING PROGRESS: Information Technology Secretary C. Chandramouli (right) along with Collector Neeraj Mittal (second right) inspecting the excavation work for the Tidel Park at ELCOT’s Special Economic Zone for Information Technology sector at Peelamedu in Coimbatore on Wednesday. —

COIMBATORE: Construction of the Coimbatore Tidel Park will be over by December next year, according to the Information Technology Secretary, C. Chandramouli.

He told presspersons here on Wednesday that the park would have a total built-up area of 16 lakh sq.ft. This would include close to 10 lakh sq.ft of IT space and also parking space for about 1,100 cars and 2,000 two-wheelers.

Enquiries

The works were on schedule now and enquiries for occupation at the park were being registered.

The 56-acre Information Technology-sector specific Special Economic Zone in Peelamedu area here had 9.5 acres earmarked for the Tidel Park, 9.5 acres for Wipro, 9.5 acres for Tata Consultancy Services and four acres for HCL. Residential units were planned on nearly 12 acres.

Foundation

Excavation works started at the Tidel Park site last month and building construction was expected to commence in February next. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi laid the foundation for the park in February this year.

Mr. Chandramouli held discussions with District Collector Neeraj Mittal, officials from the Revenue, State Highways Departments and Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu here on the approach road to the park. It was proposed to have a four-lane road to the park from the main Avinashi Road.

Coimbatore was the first tier-two city in the State where works have started for the Tidel Park.

Projects

Similar projects were planned in other tier-two cities, including Tirunelveli, Tiruchi and Madurai, he said. The Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu had nine IT-sector specific SEZs in six locations.

source : www.thehindu.com

Kovai Tidel - Dinamalar

2007-12-04T02:54:00.000-08:00

Best cities to live, invest and earn in

2007-12-04T02:11:00.000-08:00

http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/nov/26city1.htm

India is a land of paradox, it is said, even the rapid economic development in the last few years hasn't helped in managing the contradictions.
A latest survey has now revealed cities such as Gurgaon that are most preferred to earn a living and where employment growth is the fastest, are not among the best places to live.

According to data compiled by economics research firm Indicus Analytics on residences, earnings and investments, none of the ten cities in the 'reside-in' list figure in the 'earn-in' list of places with most employment opportunities.

Moreover, the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai did not figure among the ten best cities to reside, earn or invest. However, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai were among the cities preferred by millionaires to spend their life.

The list of 'earn-in' cities has been topped by Gurgaon, followed by Silvaasa, Noida, Faridabad, Rupnagar, Chandigarh, Surat, Bangalore, Gandhinagar and Pune.

The best cities to reside are Kochi, Kozhikode, Shimla, Thiruvananthapuram, Mysore, Goa, Thrissur, Pondicherry, Kannur and Thiruvalur. Interestingly, five of these cities are in God's own country, Kerala. Shimla is the only northern city in this list, while Chandigarh, among the few fully planned cities in the country, failed to find a place.

The 'invest-in' index was topped by Silvassa, followed by Coimbatore, Ludhiana, Shimla, Noida, Gurgaon, Gandhinagar, Surat, Itanagar and Chandigarh.

Indicus considered six parameters - health, education, environment, safety, public facilities and entertainment - for preparing the 'reside-in' index. The 'earn-in' list was based on growth rate of employment, per capita income and listings on popular job websites

Rakindo Developers to invest $5bn over 5 yrs

2007-12-03T08:06:00.000-08:00

Rakeen, a global company promoted by the government of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, today announced a 50:50 joint venture with Chennai-based Trimex group to form a foreign direct investment (FDI)-compliant real estate joint venture for the Indian market.

The JV, Rakindo Developers, will have a committed outlay of $5 billion over the next five years for its project in India. The company is planning to develop, on a conservative basis, 50 million square feet of residential, commercial and office space across the country over seven years.

Rakindo plans to start work on a $1.5 billion, 1,000-acre integrated township and information technology (IT) special economic zone (SEZ) in Coimbatore in the first quarter of 2008. It has already received in- principle clearance for the SEZ, which is being developed in partnership with the Tamil Nadu government.

"Establishing an integrated township and IT park in Tamil Nadu affirms our belief in the state, and is definitely a step towards our effort to bring world class facilities to India," Khatar Massad, advisor to Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah and CEO, RAK Investment authority.

Rakindo already has a land bank of over 4000 acre across the country, and is negotiating with the government to acquire an additional 5,000 acre.

Breathing life into spaces and no concrete jungles

2007-11-19T00:49:00.000-08:00

An image of a project coming up in the city.

“Our aim is to build homes where the residents should enjoy peace. We are not constructing just buildings but we are trying to breathe life into spaces,” says Vikram Mohan, Director of the Pricol Property Development Ltd (PPDL).

Basically an industrial engineer, Mr.Vikram feels that there is hardly any commercial building in Coimbatore which is ‘world class.’ “Only when one of my close friends chose to skip Coimbatore for want of such a building, my journey for world class buildings began.” He met a number of top-level builders in Pune, Bangalore, etc., and a three-man team was assigned the task of how to go about. It took almost a year to create a land bank.

As he realised that quality buildings could come only with experience, he thought of a tie-up with a quality builder like Pune-based Vascon Engineers.

“Its Managing Director, R. Vasudevan, shared my value system. We are not interested in FSI (floor space index) but quality of life of our customers and we are building not urban jungles but urban living spaces. Thus we joined hands. And the result is the proposal for two major projects – a 150-room hotel, close to Coimbatore airport, and a modern-residential cum commercial project at Neelambur, near here, at a total cost of about Rs 700 crore.”

Adverting to Vascon, he points out that it is one of the top ten construction companies in the country with experience in various segments .As the economy continues to grow, the pressure will be more on commercial spaces. The challenge, then, will be to integrate quality construction, intelligent design and latest technology to optimise space utilisation, maximise user comfort and preserve the environment.

While Vascon would use the PPDL’s “local knowledge of the market, administrative liaisoning and day-to-day administration,” it would offer its engineering skill.

Explaining why he has chosen such an experienced partner, Mr. Vikram Mohan declares: “I want to get it first time right instead of learning though trial and error. This effort will help me grow faster.” The work for the hotel project would be launched “no later than January next and it will take another 18 months for occupation.”

The work for the residential and commercial complex project would begin by March-April next and the first phase of it would be handed over by December 2009. The total project period would be four years.

This project would have 38 row houses\villas meant for “very senior management personnel” and 700 to 750 apartments in the 1,800-sq ft range. Besides, there would be 120 service apartments of 650 sq ft to 700 sq ft each. A hotel would be constructed in this project itself with 80 to100 rooms.

He points out that this is the first time a Coimbatore company has tied up with an outsider for its expertise.

The PPDL already has seven projects while Vascon, a company with a turnover of Rs. 382 crore last fiscal and which hopes to achieve double this financial year, has orders for several million sq ft.

Explaining some of the interesting features of his buildings, he points out that all of them will have handicap access, stretcher evacuation facility and fire tender access. Besides, 30 per cent of the area is meant for green zone and there are projects wherein “we did not even consume the specified FSI because of our interest in green zone.” In his Crimson Dawn project, off Avinashi road, almost 80 per cent of the space has been left for green zone.

He got this “green experience" from certain constructions, in Pune, Gurgaon, and even Chennai. Similarly, even in major cities like London, New York, Barcelona and Frankfurt there are “massive green oases,” all in the heart of a city, which make living a pleasure. “Customers should enjoy quality time at the building for which they invested their entire life-time savings. Homes should become havens of peace and prosperity and there should be warmth and security.”

Pointing out how children living in apartments get hooked on to TV or computer, he has planned a special playing area. In addition there will be a petting zoo (which is found in London and New York) and it will have pets like rabbits, guinea pigs, etc.

“This will de-stress the child. The children can take them home for a couple of hours and there will be trained veterinarians to take care of them. Whenever the parents go out for shopping, the children can be left in these zoos.”

Vikram Mohan

Cost-wise, it would include Rs. 25 lakh to Rs. 30 lakh more per project as it would occupy half an acre. And the subscription would be just about Rs. 250 a month. But this will add a lot of value and the children will start “sharing and caring” with and for others.

Besides, there will be partially covered swimming pools.

For the aged old people, there will be a centre where readings of Bhagavad Gita , debates, bhajans etc., could be organiszed.

In some of his projects, “there are no common walls for apartments, and not a window opens into another apartment.All the bedrooms will have window on two sides for cross ventilation.”

The balconies will be so large that they can be fully used. He is also planning sky garden of 1,000 sqft in every floor.”

He admits that he is “just copying” these features because “ I believe they will help the residents lead a quality life.”

“All that we are doing is to go an extra mile.”

L&T inaugurates 3 new units in Coimbatore

2007-10-29T03:33:00.000-07:00

L&T today inaugurated three new facilities at its growth centre on Coimbatore campus. The facilities included an engineering centre for electrical systems, a precision machining centre and a manufacturing unit for petroleum dispensing pumps.

The facilities were inaugurated by senior L&T officials in the presence of Chairman & Managing Director, Mr. A. M. Naik. President – Operations & Member of the Board, Mr. R. N. Mukhija, inaugurated the administration and engineering centre of electrical equipment and systems business. The executive vice president of Electrical Sector, Mr. S. C. Bhargava and chief executive of Electronics Sector II, Mr. J. P. Singh, inaugurated the precision machining centre and petroleum dispensing pumps facility respectively.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Naik said, “L&T has been creating growth centres at select locations. Two years back we zeroed in on Coimbatore as a new location. We have set up valves and switchboard manufacturing units. The addition of new facilities is in line with the required expansion to meet future market needs. We would have more facilities coming up on this campus to give us the comforts of scale and earn logistics benefits.”

On the occasion, Mr. Mukhija said, “The precision machining centre and the engineering centre for electrical systems business are critical to the growth of L&T’s electrical business. These centres would significantly help in process improvements and better response time towards addressing the market’s current and future needs.” He added, “We are witnessing big growth in fuel and gas industry and the dispensers manufacturing unit will cater to the oil and gas retail segment in India as well as Africa, GCC, Europe and south-east Asia.”

The new petroleum dispensing pumps manufacturing unit has capacity of 30,000 hoses per annum. The facility has been made immune to dust by Forced Draft Ventilation System (FDVS). The assembly lines designs are backed by e-KANBAN and tailored to achieve least through put time. The pumps will be auto-tested by CANBUS communicable stations with test data storage facility. There will be state-of-the-art test station for petrol, diesel, and AutoLPG to simulate stringent field conditions.

L&T will manufacture AutoLPG pumps at this facility and this will be another first to its credit in India.

L&T fuel dispensing pumps meet widely accepted safety norms like. CE-ATEX, OIML, etc. It exports to Middle East, south-east Asia, parts of Europe and East Africa and is domestic market leader with more than 40% share.

L&T has significantly enhanced the capacity of precision machining centre as part of its engineered tooling solutions capability. The machining centre has been set up in close to 5000 sqm area that will go upto 11290 sqm in the next 5 years. It is a modern facility with precision machines and equipment aided by IT and computer systems to facilitate concurrent product development activity. The precision machining facility will produce high precision tool parts with accuracies in the range of 2-10 microns.

The objective of setting up this precision machining centre is to create additional capacity to cater to the growing needs of high precision and high quality tooling for L&T’s electrical and electronics business and precision machined components for heavy engineering business. The precision machining centre is intended to be developed as a business unit and expanded into high precision specialty product lines to become a preferred supplier to a select companies with global presence.

The administration and engineering centre will cater to the requirements of electrical equipment and systems business on Coimbatore campus. This centre will meet the design and engineering needs of customers’ demands as the switchboard manufacturing capacity is enhanced from 7000 panels per year to 13,000 panels by 2009 and further to 17,000 panels by 2010.

This centre will facilitate integration of modern technology with manufacturing process and help L&T achieve global standards in every parameter - quality, speed, safety and efficiency. This will give switchboard’s facilities the flexibility for timely response to changing market requirements.

Coimbatore Airport to get a new look

2007-10-29T03:29:00.000-07:00

The Airport Authority of India has given its approval for modification and expansion of the Coimbatore Airport terminal buildings at an outlay of Rs. 78 crore. The project, to be implemented in two years, will give the airport a new look and a host of new facilities.

Airport Director K. Hemalatha confirmed the approval and said the project would include installation of two new aerobridges, elevators/escalators and a conveyor belt to carry baggage. At present the airport does not have an aerobridge and passengers have to walk through the tarmac/apron and climb the passenger step ladder (PSL) vehicle to get onto the flight. Aerobridges take the passengers straight into the flight from the terminal building. Aerobridges will also help reduce human or vehicle movement on the tarmac.

Coimbatore airport already has international flight connectivity to Sharjah by Air Arabia and Indian while Sri Lankan and Silk Air are scheduled to commence shortly their services to Colombo and Singapore respectively.

The aerobridges would be immensely useful, sources said. When there are no international flights, bigger aircraft on the domestic sector also could use these aerobridges.

The VIP lounge and the passenger waiting area in the departure and arrival halls would get a facelift with new chairs and trolleys, said the sources.

Efforts are on to get feeder conveyors that will feed the luggage onto the conveyor directly after weighing it. Customs counters will be fully refurbished and there will be adequate space for new facilities such as customs duty paid shop and foreign exchange counters.

With the available land every possible improvement was being made to keep pace with growth, the sources said.

SriLankan to starty flying to Coimbatore from Oct 29

2007-10-29T03:27:00.000-07:00

SriLankan Airlines will launch its services to Coimbatore on October 29, making the South Indian city the airline's 11th destination in India.

Coimbatore, situated near the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, is an ideal gateway for travellers from East Kerala to fly to West Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Far East. A major industrial city, Coimbatore is the second largest metropolis in Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, Calicut is observing a general strike today to protest against the alleged neglect by the Indian government of the Karipur airport and alleged preference shown to Coimbatore over Calicut.

SriLankan Airlines Chief Eexecutive Officer Peter Hill said, ''SriLankan Airlines has positioned Colombo as the gateway to India, and we are continuously increasing our services there. This includes the addition of more and more cities across India to our route network, and we are proud to add Coimbatore to this list''.

The airline will initially operate four flights a week on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday using Airbus A320 aircraft. It already has services to three major cities in Kerala--Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, and Kochi; and two in Tamil Nadu--Chennai (Madras) and Tiruchirapalli.

Senaka Fernando, Regional Manager (Indian subcontinent and Maldives) said, ''SriLankan Airlines is very familiar with the travel requirements of South Indian passengers, and we take great care in providing the best facilities to them.'' A short 70-minute flight would bring travellers to Colombo, where the airline has rapid connections to its global network of 54 destinations in 28 countries. Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport has earned a reputation as the finest in the South Asian region following its recent expansion, with its modern terminal and aerobridges, comfortable lounges, and well-stocked duty free shopping complex.

SriLankan carried a staggering 1.1 million passengers to and from India during April 2006-March 2007, which is almost 32 per cent of the airline’s global traffic. Sri Lanka is a popular destination among Indian tourists.

Plans to ease traffic in Coimbatore City

2007-10-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

Officials are drawing up long-term and short-term plans to improve road connectivity and traffic management in the city to decongest its arterial roads.

At a meeting of the district level committee attended by District Collector Neeraj Mittal, City Police Commissioner C.K. Gandhirajan, and Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran, proposals for link roads, ring roads, truck terminals and bus terminals were recommended under the Jawarhalal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

Officials of the highways, Corporation, and local planning authority and representatives of various public fora took part.

The short-term proposals include 12 link roads connecting Avanashi Road with 100 Feet Road, Tiruchi Road, Vilankurichi Road, Sathyamangalam Road, Peelamedu Road; and Avarampalayam Road, Brook Bond Road with Mettuppalayam Road. More link roads connecting Tiruchi Road with the airport (via SIHS Colony), Sathyamangalam Road with Mettuppalayam Road, Thadagam Road with Perur Road, and Perur Road with Madukkarai Road have been suggested. The road width will range from 40 to 80 feet.

The long-term plans include five ring roads with width ranging from 40 to 60 to 100 feet. These include one that will connect Nanjundapuram with Singanallur (along the railway line, for which land acquisition needs to be done); an outer ring road connecting L&T bypass road with Mettuppalayam Road at Periyanaickenpalayam; an intermediate ring road connecting NH 47 with Mettuppalayam Road (at Thudialur) via Kalapatti, and a road from Ukkadam connecting Mettuppalayam Road via Selvapuram and Pappanaickenpudur. A road connecting Kuniamuthur with Mettuppalayam Road at Pannimadai meant for outbound traffic is suggested.

Flyovers are proposed at the Lakshmi Mills Junction and Gandhipuram and at railway level crossings at Kurichi, Sanganur 7th Street, Vilankurichi Road, Avarampalayam and the Kikkani School crossing at Ram Nagar. Bus terminals are planned at Thudialur, Kurumbapalayam, Chinniampalayam and Kavundampalayam.

Truck terminals

Truck terminals are suggested at Neelambur, Malumichampatti and Irugur. There will be multi-level parking facilities at Thyagi Kumaran Market, Jail grounds, Uppukinar lane and R.S. Puram. Besides, 12 subways are proposed at road junctions including at railway station, Flower Market and Ganapathy Bus Stand.

Sourced from www.thehindu.com

SriLankan to fly to Coimbatore

2007-10-04T02:37:00.000-07:00

SriLankan Airlines will begin flight operations to Coimbatore on October 29, making the industrial town the airline’s 11th destination in the country. A release quoting the airline’s chief executive officer Peter Hill on Wednesday said the airline would initially operate four flights a week, on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, using Airbus A0-320. At present, it has services to Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Kochi, Chennai and Trichirappalli in the South. A short 70-minute flight from Coimbatore would bring travellers to Colombo, where the airline has rapid connections to its global network of 54 destinations in 28 countries. — Staff Reporter

Vascon Engineers, Pricol Property in joint venture

2007-09-05T00:11:00.000-07:00

Pune-based Vascon Engineers Ltd (Vascon) has joined hands with Coimbatore-based Pricol Property Development Ltd to promote a joint venture styled Vascon Pricol Infrastructures Ltd to take up a premium hotel project and a residential-cum-commercial project here at a total investment of about Rs 600 crore-Rs 700 crore.

While hotel would be built on Avanashi road close to the Coimbatore airport, the residential project would come up at Neelambur.

Though the two partners have agreed to initially promote the projects to come up at Coimbatore, they do not rule out the possibility of extending their business venture to other cities in Tamil Nadu, and to Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

Upcoming projects

Speaking to newsmen in Coimbatore, Mr R.Vasudevan, Managing Director of Vascon, said the hotel is being positioned in the four-star category and would have 150 rooms. The outlay for the project is about Rs 80 crore to Rs 90 crore.

The Neelambur residential-cum-commercial project would have a built up area of about 2.5 million sq.ft. and would include IT and commercial buildings, apartments, independent and row houses, motel-cum-club and service apartments, shopping mall, school, health care centre, etc. to be constructed in three phases over a three-four year period.

The project is being established on a 30-acre site and would involve an investment of about Rs 500-Rs 600 crore, making it one of the single largest investment in a real estate venture in the city.

He said more projects were in the pipeline and would be announced once the details were firmed up.

Meanwhile, Mr Vikram Mohan, Director, Pricol Property Development Ltd, said his company, independent of the joint venture, is executing six projects in and around Coimbatore at a total investment of about Rs 300 crore and this company would continue its independent existence.

Source : www.thehindubusinessline.com

A tryst with Coimbatore’s tanks full again

2007-08-24T04:25:00.000-07:00

The tanks that form part of the city’s unique water system are filled to the brim and bustling with birdlife. Subha J Rao goes on a whirlwind tour

Photos : K. Ananthan

Alive again Boys at the Narsampathy tank, a coot at Singanallur tank, the lily-filled Perur Pudukulam and a fisherman at work at Ukkadam Tank.

Aruchamy, a resident of Vellalore, saw the village tank full 29 summers ago. In the decades that followed, people built their homes near the canal where the excess water used to drain off. Children thought the tank was a playground.

This year, the tank is full again. And, an entire village is smiling. People living on the canal have to wade across knee-deep water to reach their homes. But, no one is complaining.

They have longed to see water hurtling down the canal.

Unique system

The story is the same across the 31 tanks (fed by channels from 25 anaicuts) that cover more than 100 km in Erode and Coimbatore districts.

These make up a unique water system based on gravity, said to be put in place by the kings who ruled this region. It is not as if the Noyyal, which feeds these tanks, did not swell with water all these monsoons. She did, but her canals and pathways were choked, transforming a once-mighty river into a smelly trickle.

Joint effort

After efforts by the Public Works Department, Siruthuli (a people’s initiative to recharge Coimbatore water table) and philanthropists to remove the large tracts of water hyacinth and desilt and widen the canals that feed the tanks, many of them have started looking like they used to.

We start our ‘tank yatra’ at the Singanallur tank, situated on the arterial Trichy Road. Sadly, effluents and sewage water have rendered most of it unfit to nurture anything other than the pesky water hyacinth.

A boating facility is in place, and water is plentiful, but the hyacinth has ensured that most of the boats are grounded. This year, Siruthuli cleared close to 80 acres, and work is still on.

Our next stop is the Vellalore tank, situated in the outskirts. It is interspersed with thorny bushes and shrubs, and is home to quite a few birds.

Picturesque

Kurichi tank, on the Pollachi Road, is a picturesque sight any day. Black cormorants and coots race each other in the choppy waters of the biggest tank in Coimbatore.

Cleaning work is on at this tank too, thanks to the efforts of the priest of the Pongaliamman temple on its banks, and a philanthropist.

Legend has it that centuries ago, a royal guard asked goddess Pongaliamman to guard the tank till he returned from the palace. At the palace, he beseeched the King to behead him, so that the goddess would protect the tank forever! S uch devotion for water!

Ukkadam, or the Coimbatore Big Tank, is next only to Kurichi in size, but it holds more water. And, life is back with a bang there. So are the fishermen who sitting on thermacol floaters and try their luck. Cranes flit in and out of the water, returning with food unfailingly. Next in line is Muthannan Kulam (Kumarasamy tank). Hyacinth rules here too, but the numerous birds try to divert your attention from the green patches.

The most choked tank in the system is the Krishnampathy tank. People tell you it is full, and you can only take their word for it. For, not a single drop of water is visible in the 175-acre tank — weeds and hyacinth form a vicious blanket.

In contrast is the Perur Pudukulam, lush with lilies and lotus. In another month, the clean waters of this tank will be carpeted with pink and white flowers. A golden coloured bird and a cormorant play peek-e-boo.

Panoramic

The view from the road is panoramic, with trees peppering the tank and birds flitting out of them. Narsampathy Tank, which follows, is a haven for all the village boys, who are making merry in the relatively clean waters, jumping and diving with gay abandon.

Sottaiyaandi Kuttai and Ganganarayana Samudram are next in line. They are twin tanks, with just a mud bund separating the two. Both are home to a wealth of birdlife. Darters and cormorants put up a merry dance and brilliant blue kingfishers tease, only to disappear the minute Ananthan trains his camera on them. All this, a mere 500 metres from the Perur temple. Not just this tank, most of the others in the city are also at walking distance from the main road or a bus stand.

Perfect holiday

At a time when everyone is complaining about lack of entertainment options, these tanks can be a great way to spend a holiday.

Only, they need to be developed. Better roads, some stone benches and security to ensure no one litters the area can make a world of difference. Take a trip there this weekend and see a facet of Coimbatore you never knew existed.

* * *

Narsampathy – 124 acres

Selvampathy – 70 acres

Kumarasamy – 95 acres

Perur Pudukulam – 265 acres

Sottaiyaandi Kuttai – 50 acres

Ganganarayana Samudram – 40 acres

Ukkadam tank – 320 acres

Valankulam – 160 acres

Kurichi tank – 334 acres

Vellalore tank – 86 acres

Singanallur – 285 acres

Sourced from www.thehindu.com

Akshaya Homes investing Rs 250 cr in Coimbatore

2007-08-23T05:54:00.000-07:00

Launching three projects

Akshaya Homes, the Chennai-based real estate developer, plans to invest Rs 250 crore in the three projects it is launching here.

The company, which recorded a turnover of Rs 100 crore during last year, expects the business to grow to Rs 450 crore during the current fiscal and Rs 1,000 crore in the next year.

Speaking to newspersons here, Mr T. Chitty Babu, Managing Director, Akshaya Homes Pvt Ltd, said with the metros becoming over crowded, the IT companies were moving towards tier-II cities.

Akshaya wanted to capitalise on this trend and is launching its first residential project at Sundarapuram in Coimbatore which is being wooed by the IT and manufacturing industries. The project would have 142 apartments and the price is Rs 2,250 per sq feet. In line with the present trend, the project would have a club house, children’s play area with equipment, indoor recreational rooms and a mini AV theatre.

Residential project

He said the company was planning to launch a commercial cum high-end residential project on the Tiruchi road close to Race Course and an integrated project with an IT park and residential apartments on the Sathyamangalam road in the city. The total investment on these projects would be about Rs 250 crore.

Apart from Chennai and Coimbatore, the company would enter the real estate markets in Bangalore and Madurai this year. He expected the turnover of the group to be around Rs 450 crore during the current fiscal, up from Rs 100 crore turnover during last year.

Mr Chitty Babu said the company has also planned to enter in other towns in Tamil Nadu such as Hosur and Tirunelveli and spread its wings to big cities such as Hyderabad to establish a South Indian presence. Asked about the reasons for the growth optimism, he said the land bank for reaching a target of Rs 450 crore in the current fiscal was already available with the company. When this target was reached, the company would have 16 or 17 on going projects and about 10 projects would have been handed over. Similarly, for the next year, the company already has projects worth Rs 780 crore on hand and there would not be any hitch in reaching the Rs 1,000-crore turnover. He said the hike in home loan rates would not hamper the growth of the realty sector. With the economy firing on cylinders, he expected the housing sector to witness a sustained growth, at least for the next 4/5 years as housing demand was fuelled by growth in other sectors of the economy.

He said he has no plans to go for any public issue.

Soured from www.thehindubusinessline.com

DLF charts projects for Chennai, Coimbatore

2007-08-20T01:27:00.000-07:00

DLF Home Developers, part of the Delhi-based DLF group, is to launch residential township projects in Chennai and Coimbatore.

Also in the pipeline is a Hilton hotel near Chennai at Siruseri on Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) as part of a joint venture between DLF and Hilton Hotels Corporation. This plan is at a preliminary stage.

These are some of the projects that DLF has for Tamil Nadu, where it plans to invest over Rs 10,000 crore over the next three years.

Apart from this, DLF is likely to launch the two retail malls it announced earlier in Chennai. One is coming up at Ethiraj Salai, on the 4.5 acre property it bought from Mico two years ago, in the heart of the city. This would be a 4-5 lakh square feet mall with multiplex and a double basement. The other is to be built in Guindy.

The approval process is nearing completion, the company said. Sources said the two ‘mini township’ projects are planned near Chennai off OMR between Siruseri and Sholinganallur. The first, spread over 60 acres, is to be launched in two months and a second 150-acre facility, later. Another large township of over 400 acres is to come up near Sriperumbudur, about 25 km west of Chennai, in mid 2008.

Sources said the decision by one of the largest players in the real estate sector to launch residential projects on OMR is bound to have a telling impact on the market in Chennai.

At a time when there is a perception of a slump in the market for residential property, especially on the OMR, the move by the market leader to launch projects would rejuvenate the market, spur competition, and possibly set a new benchmark in prices.
Price speculation

Market sources say DLF is believed to be contemplating an aggressive price per square foot. While there is no confirmation on the price, it will be significantly lower than that of its competitors who have announced projects on OMR with prices higher than Rs 3,500 a square foot. DLF’s price would be a better ‘fit’ in a market where the slowdown in apartment purchase is attributed to a mismatch in pricing. Why would buyers want to shell out Rs 60 lakh and more for an apartment that is 30 km from the city, they ask.

Also, as a choice of location, instead of being on the OMR, DLF has chosen to put up projects a few km off OMR, taking advantage of the proximity to OMR while being away from the hustle and bustle of a main road.

DLF’s townships would have the advantage of being close to the place of work and to the proposed Siruseri-airport expressway, they said.
Coimbatore plan

The company is also planning a township project and a retail mall in Coimbatore. DLF is in the process of acquiring land in Coimbatore, which is seen as a major destination of investments in IT and industry in Tamil Nadu. The size of the township project would be decided by the land it is able to acquire at realistic prices, the sources said.

Widening of Avanashi Road set to start

2007-08-18T00:53:00.000-07:00

The district administration has moved to ensure coordination among various agencies for widening the 16-km stretch of road from the Avanashi Road flyover to the Neelambur bypass road junction into a six-lane one, at Rs 27.5 crore.

Avanashi Road is the gateway to Coimbatore for vehicles coming from Erode, Salem, Bangalore and Chennai besides those from the hosiery town of Tirupur. The road, leading to the airport, also serves a number of residential colonies on either side besides corporate houses, educational institutions and hospitals. Traffic chaos used to reign on this stretch, especially during peak hours. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, during a visit here in February, announced that the arterial road would be made a six-lane one, taking into account the present traffic volume as well as future growth, especially in a context in which information technology firms were coming up at the proposed IT Park near Coimbatore Medical College. District Collector Neeraj Mittal recently had a coordination meeting with various agencies on the speedy completion of the work. Mr. Mittal told The Hindu that survey and alignment assessment had been completed. A joint inspection would be carried out by agencies such as the City Corporation, the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and private telecom service providers for moving utility fixtures such as telephone cables, water lines, electric poles and transformers to the road boundary. The TNEB was preparing an estimate for shifting its poles and transformers, and the expenditure would be met from the project cost. All preliminary works will be in full swing by July 15.

After the survey, the authorities said there was enough space on either side to provide six lanes and there would be no need to demolish any structures. There will be minimal removal of encroachments, they said.

Robert Bosch investing Rs 250 cr in Coimbatore SEZ

2007-08-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

Robert Bosch India Ltd, which has been allotted 21.88 acres on lease in the first dedicated Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for IT/ITES industries in Coimbatore, will invest about Rs 250 crore in its Coimbatore facility in the first phase.

The company has signed a deal with Coimbatore Hi-tech Infrastructure Private Ltd, promoted by KG Information Systems Ltd, which is forming the SEZ at Saravanampatty on the Coimbatore-Mysore road. Already Robert Bosch had established in 2006 a development centre at KG Information facility.

Mr Friedhelm Pickhard, Managing Director, Robert Bosch, Bangalore, told Business Line that since the establishment of the centre at Coimbatore, the number of associates (employees) had grown to 550 now, and they are involved in dive rse areas such as software and hardware engineering, mechanical design and business services.

The Coimbatore Bosch facility is a BPO and an engineering centre.

Mr Pickhard said the company has planned to begin construction on the facility in the last quarter of 2007 and would inaugurate the first phase in early 2009. The company has strong focus on research.

Nature of work

The Bosch associates would work on advance technologies designing new Electronic Control Unit for diesel and gasoline engines and other automotive applications such as portable navigation systems, semi-autonomous parking systems, adaptive cruise control and Autosar, the new upcoming software standard for automotive applications, and for this, Bosch is in touch with the universities in Coimbatore. Mr Pickhard said the company would be investing about €41 million (about Rs 250 crore) in its Coimbatore facility in the first phase.

The company would be developing its facility in the Saravanampatty SEZ in two or three phases.

By 2010, he expects to have around 2,500 associates at Coimbatore centre.

Mr Ashok Bakthavathsalam, Managing Director, KG Information, said the decision of Robert Bosch would not only create job opportunities in Coimbatore but the manufacturing sector also would benefit since Robert Bosch looks for partners for bringing complimentary strength to what it does.

He said the establishment of KG Information’s one-stop solution for infrastructure support was one of the major reasons for Robert Bosch to select Coimbatore as the second city (after Bangalore) for expansion.

He added that after Robert Bosch, Cognizant Technology Solutions and Perot Systems were expected to have their facilities in the SEZ.

The establishment of the SEZ would also benefit the adjoining villages with the creation of non-IT jobs.

First SEZ for pvt IT cos coming up in Coimbatore

2007-08-12T22:41:00.000-07:00

The first SEZ exclusively for private IT/ITES companies in Coimbatore is being established by Coimbatore Hi-tech Infrastructure Private Ltd (CHIL), promoted by KG Information Systems Private Ltd (KGISL).

The SEZ, which is coming up on a 150-acre site in Saravanampatty, will offer facilities such as ready-to-occupy incubation space (for start-ups) and leased-out land where companies can build own facilities to match their business plans.

Besides, it would have amenities for commercial and social infrastructure, including hotels, residential accommodation and healthcare.

Robert Bosch India Ltd (RBIL), Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) and Perot Systems India have been allotted a total of 50 acres for their own facilities, while the remaining 100-acre area is being developed at a total investment of about Rs 1,000 crore over a three-year period.

Speaking to newspersons after inking the deal with RBIL, Mr Ashok Bakthavathsalam, Managing Director, KGISL, said that CHIL would be building three million sq feet of office space over the next three years.

The special purpose vehicle has been formed primarily to build, operate and run the SEZ.

The Centre has notified and authorised it to run the SEZ up to 150 acres as a single contiguous area.

Mr Bakthavathsalam expects good response from small and medium IT companies from other centres looking to expand outside.

He added that market studies showed that IT/ITES companies prefer exclusive SEZs rather than co-exist with other sectors like manufacturing in the same SEZs.

On plans to expand the size of the SEZ later, he said that he would have to approach appropriate Government bodies to carry them out.

“But land is available for future expansion. The number of jobs created after three years may be around 30,000.”

The plug-and-play facilities are expected to be ready by July 2008.

The company owns the land where the SEZ is coming up; much of it is dry land.

It bought the land directly from owners without any outside support.

Land identified for Regional Passport Office in Coimbatore

2007-06-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

It will come up on Corporation property near Collectorate

Officials of the Ministry of External Affairs have identified land in Coimbatore for setting up a Regional Passport Office.

Regional Passport Officer, Chennai, Sumathi Ravichandran, said the office would come up on a property owned by the Corporation near the Collectorate.The State Government has agreed to construct the office on a 12,000 sq. ft area. The work would be completed within three months from the date of commencement.

The RPO said the rush for applying for passports under the `tatkal' scheme had subsided with the end of summer holidays.

The authorities were now able to complete renewal of passports under the normal category in 12 days. Earlier, this took more than a month and a half.

The RPO said fresh passport applications could be submitted to District Passport Centres functioning at the Deputy Commissioner of Police office at Adyar, Anna Nagar and Flower Bazaar.

Those applying for passports under the `tatkal' category could attach any of the following documents to prove their identity: electors photo identity card, freedom fighter card, arms licence, property documents such as pattas and registered deeds, ration card or bank/kisan/post office passbook. Those with any of these documents need not wait for police verification. Passport officials would do a post-issuance verification, she said.

Last year, the RPO authorities received 37,600 passport applications under the `tatkal' category and issued 37,400 passports. Till May 31 this year 26,100 applications were received under the scheme and nearly 25,000 passports issued.

source :www.the hindu

Coimbatore next stop on IT map; realty to boom

2007-06-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

Coimbatore's real estate market is set to change, with IT parks, hotels and malls being planned. But if you want to invest in property here you just might have missed the bus, reports CNBC-TV18.

Suressh Menda has been in Coimbatore's property market for the past 20 years. This director of Coimbatore-based Presidium Constructions says the market here has never been so excited by hopes of an IT boom.

Menda says, "Housing will go up tremendously, correlated with that activity like mall-building, will also go up. You require hotels for industry to be placed there, so it's a whole cycle that is going to take place linked to the ITES industry here."

Over the next two-and-a-half years, 5 to 10 million sq. ft. will be developed for IT. Three dedicated IT special economic zones are expected. Besides, hotels will take up about 10 lakh sq. ft. of land. The Taj, Meridien and Kennilworth are reported to have acquired land for their projects. Coimbatore also looks set to change the way it shops.

He says, "Avanashi Road is at the center of high-street shopping in Coimbatore, but like this city, this road does not have a single shopping mall. All that is going to change over the next two to three years, when four million sq. ft. of retail space will come up on either side of this road."

In anticipation of all this activity, property prices have already increased by 300%, in some cases. Now experts say a correction is expected.

N Ananthanarayanan, Regional Director, JLL-Meghraj, says, "What's happened is that Coimbatore had a sympathy rise along with Chennai, but with prices in Chennai itself flattening out, it looks like Coimbatore will also flatten out."

Like Chennai, Coimbatore's population mix will also change. Experts say between 25,000 and 30,000 IT workers will come into Coimbatore in the next two or three years. That will keep firm the demand for quality housing.

Source : www.moneycontrol.com

Work on IT Park in Coimbatore will begin by Aug -- CM approves building design

2007-06-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

The project would come up within 18 months of finalising the modalities at an estimated investment of Rs 200-250 crore.

The long-awaited Government mooted IT Park in Coimbatore is likely to see some shape soon.

The Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) Managing Director, Mr C. Umashankar, told Business Line that the State Government has approved the building design and the construction activity would begin by August.

He said the ELCOT board and TIDCO (Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation) shortlisted three designs for the Chief Minister's approval two days back.

He has approved one of the three structures.

"We will float the tender and announce the financial closure shortly,'' Mr Umashankar said.

The Chief Minister laid the foundation stone two months ago. Mr Umashankar then indicated that the project would come up within 18 months of finalising the modalities.

Initially, an area of 29 acres was transferred from the Health Department to the IT Department for the proposed park.

Thereafter, an additional 33 acres was also acquired near the Coimbatore Medical College campus, with the Government contemplating developing social infrastructure projects.

The park is expected to have a built-up area of one million sq.ft. and the estimated investment on this has been pegged at Rs 200 crore to Rs 250 crore.

"Since it has the Special Economic Zone status, we will be eligible to get a 20 per cent rebate on imported items,'' Mr Umashankar said.

Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services, who have been allotted 10 acres and 5 acres respectively for establishing their own campus, are also expected to start work on the project.

Chennai's growth clouds Coimbatore's attempt to be IT hub

2007-06-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

Coimbatore has always been touted as an alternative to Chennai for companies to invest in. However, in recent years, Chennai's rapid growth has clouded Coimbatore's attempt to become an attractive IT destination, reports CNBC-TV18.
Perot Systems is expanding its Coimbatore facility so that it can double its existing headcount. The company, which has offices in Noida, Bangalore and Chennai, apart from Coimbatore, says its experience here has been as good as any of its other Indian centres.
"Our experience has been so good, which is why, we are substantially ramping up operations. This has, primarily, been possible because of great manpower availability,” said Srinivasa Rao, Chief Financial Officer at Perot Systems.
This availability stems from the fact that Coimbatore has three universities, 21 Engineering colleges and over 65 Arts and Science colleges. Apart from Perot, Robert Bosch and Cognizant are the only other big IT companies here, which means that attrition rates, the IT and BPO industry's biggest bugbear, are much lower. That along with lower staff and real estate costs, means that Perot saves about 25% by working from Coimbatore. In spite of this, Coimbatore's overall perfomance as an IT hub is still lagging behind.
On a 29-acre parcel of land, a new proposed IT park will come up. On adjacent plots, Wipro and TCS’ campuses will come up. But after a rather quick land acquisition process, work has almost ground to a stand still. This concerns the local IT industry, which believes that, unless this IT park comes up, Coimbatore's nascent IT industry will never boom.
Experts say IT in Coimbatore has still not taken off as expected because Chennai is still not overcrowded and its old Mahabalipuram Road is emerging as Tamil Nadu's IT Highway. But as cost savings become obvious and the new IT park comes up, Coimbatore could well be Tamil Nadu's next IT boomtown.

Pentasoft to replicate `Mayajaal' theme park in tier-II, III cities

2007-06-10T18:54:00.000-07:00

Coimbatore first in list; total investments at Rs 100 cr

Growth plan

Theme park planned in 5 centres in next 2-3 yrs.
Also plans online services in next 9 months.
Wants to make at least 2 animation films a year.

Coimbatore June 10 Pentasoft Technologies is in the process of redefining its growth plan. The company is not only looking to expand the reach of its technical training centres but also striving to strengthen its position in the entertainment space.

The company plans to replicate its `Mayajaal' theme park in tier-II and tier-III cities. "`We plan to launch the PentaGraphics Mayajaal theme park with multiplex in Coimbatore, Bhubaneshwar, Madurai, Hyderabad and Mysore within the next two to three years. The Coimbatore Park will come up first. We are looking for suitable land of, say, 5 to 6 acres," its CEO, Mr Hari Haran, said.

The company has estimated the total investment on the expansion plans at Rs 100 crore, and plans to raise this through private equity. Mr Hari Haran said the announcement could be expected by end-October. Its equity base at present is Rs 200 crore.

He also indicated that the company would start a Multimedia Academy at its Mayajaal campus in Chennai very soon. "The Academy has been proposed on an estimated investment of Rs 6.5 crore (excluding land cost). All the residential training programmes on animation, special effects and trend courses would be conducted here, and all franchisees would be affiliated to the Academy," he said.

Setbacks

The company, which had established a strong franchisee network in early 2000, faced a setback when the IT training institutes across the country were confronted with a crisis. The numbers slipped: from over 200 in 2001 to just over 20 at present.

It now plans to revive the tie-ups by targeting 50 this year, before taking it to its earlier level in 18 months. "We are also planning to offer online services within the next 9 months. We propose to tie-up with 400 franchisees across Tamil Nadu for growing our online services."

On production of animation movies, he said: "We have so far produced six, but are looking to produce at least two animation films every year from now. The selection of the animation movie Buddha for the Oscar this year has actually driven us to produce more such films. Ganesha is slated to be released within the next 6 months, and this would also be sent for the Oscars," he added.

IBM forays into Coimbatore - More Info

2007-05-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

IBM India today announced its operations in Coimbatore, as part of its expansion plans to enter 14 new cities in the country. This would enable IBM to cater specially to the unique requirements of the various SMB clients spread in the city of Coimbatore and neighboring markets.

Ramesh Narasimhan, Director – GSMB, IBM India, said “Opening operations in Coimbatore is an example of IBM’s continued commitment to working closely with SMBs throughout India to provide them with products, solutions and value added offerings that will give them the boost to get ahead and succeed.”

“Coimbatore, a strong manufacturing and resource hub for many industries will be an important market for IBM and this initiative from us will further cement our commitment to grow Coimbatore to an even stronger global market through our innovative collaboration with IT and their businesses,” Ramesh added.

IBM’s portfolio of clients in Coimbatore includes Suguna Poultry, Karur Vysya Bank, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Roots Industries, Shanti Gears, KGISL, Precot Meridian Ltd, L G Balakrishnan & Bros, Super Spinning Mills Ltd, among others. IBM plans to work hand-in-hand with local ISVs to provide new and existing clients with additional value-added solutions that are specifically tailored to the local market.

With over 3000 SMB customers in India, IBM’s operations in Coimbatore will target various clients in Government, Banking and Finance, Retail, Manufacturing, Automotive, Educational sectors among others.

As the fastest growing sector in IBM India, the Global Small & Medium Business (GSMB) unit is ready to address this growth and offer SMBs the solutions and technologies that are critical to their survival in the challenging Indian market. Mid-market companies have distinct needs that are often ignored by most service providers. IBM’s Technologies and Solutions for Indian Small and Mid-market businesses provide a competitive edge in this era of globalisation.

IBM has invested in the development of products and services specifically priced and designed for the SMB marketplace under the brand name ‘IBM Express Portfolio’. IBM's Express portfolio is comprised of hardware, software, services, solutions and financing and is designed to meet specific criteria for SMBs.

These offerings are delivered through sales and marketing team of 6,000 people and a network of 90,000 Business Partners, organized in 243 local sales territories around the world.

IBM commences Coimbatore operations

2007-05-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

In looking to establish office at strategic locations, IBM India is no exception. But what seemed strange was the location of the company's office in Coimbatore.

Instead of looking for space in an IT park or a commercial building in the heart of the city, IBM has set up its office at the Business Centre at the Residency.

On the reason behind choosing the business centre in a prominent hotel, Mr Ramesh Narasimhan, Director (SMB), India and South Asia, said: "We are looking at logistics to start off our operations here. We will have a much larger operation very soon."

The company is planning to establish its offices in 14 new locations this year, including smaller hubs such as Madurai, Vizag and Kochi in the South.

Expansion plans

"We will be strengthening both - our reach (by setting up offices) and people," Mr Narasimhan said.

Though he did not specify the numbers that the company proposed to add to its rolls this year, he maintained that IBM India would look at picking up freshers and lateral recruitment in a big way. The company added 15,000 people last year, taking the headcount to 53,000 in 2006.

On the team size here, he said: "We have people travelling across locations all the time, addressing different markets and resolving issues. The establishment of a set-up is only to strengthen and build relationship with customers and partners."

IBM works with 1,500 partners nationally, including 200 in Tamil Nadu.

Mr Narasimhan indicated that the company would strive to increase these numbers. According to him, partners help strengthen IBM's reach, adding their own value, and aid in relationship building.

On the cost of establishing its office here, he said that $6 billion has been earmarked for investments in India.

"We will be using the funds from this corpus for setting up offices across new locations and for establishing a global delivery centre and software labs, among others."

TN (Coimbatore), Gujarat top contenders for L&T's boiler plant

2007-05-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

The supercritical boiler plant of the L&T-Mitsubishi joint venture is likely to come up either in Tamil Nadu or Gujarat.

The sites under consideration in Tamil Nadu are near Coimbatore and Chennai, Mr Y.M. Deosthalee, Director and Chief Financial Officer, L&T, told here on Friday.

Asked how a new plant would be competitive against established players such as BHEL, who also have an advantage of scale, Mr Deosthalee said that `economies of scale' was only one aspect of costing. More important was the technology factor, especially in hi-tech areas such as supercritical boilers.

Mr Deosthalee said that L&T would soon make an announcement about a tie-up for technology for manufacturing turbines.

Oil rigs

Answering a question, he said that L&T, which has just made a foray into shipbuilding, would also get into production of oil rigs.

Noting that manufacturing oil rigs was a lot more complex than making ships, Mr Deosthalee said that L&T might have a technical tie up for that purpose. He said the company could get into production of rigs between six months and one year from now. He indicated that the rigs might be produced at Oman, where L&T has a joint venture (between its wholly-owned subsidiary, L&T International FZE, and The Muscat Trading Co).

Another area that L&T is keen on entering is railways. The company will soon appoint a consultant to look into areas to get into. The possible areas include production of rakes and locomotives, undertaking projects on BOT basis and metro rails. Mr Deosthalee almost ruled out manufacture of operating signalling systems.

Asked whether L&T's next ship building yard (after Hazira, Gujarat) will come up at Ennore, near Chennai, Mr Deosthalee said that there were "reasonable chances" for that.

In the aviation sector, L&T in February signed a MoU with Boeing for "joint exploration of business opportunities". The two companies were examining the opportunities. He counted providing design services and manufacture of parts among the possible areas, but ruled out getting into MRO activities.

RAK Investments in Coimbatore IT SEZ

2007-05-01T04:18:00.000-07:00

Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), the fourth largest of the seven emirates forming the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has identified Tamil Nadu for mega investments, and is expected to invest Rs 20,000 crore in developing infrastructure and feeder townships.

The Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA), a semi-governmental agency set up by the government of RAK to promote investments in RAK and abroad, has identified two projects - one each at Coimbatore and Kadalur in Kancheepuram district - to invest about Rs 20,000 crore in residential township projects.

RAKIA is expected to invest about Rs 2,000 crore in the initial phase. The land for the two projects is being purchased privately by the promoters.

A memorandum of understanding was signed recently by S Ramasundaram, chairman and managing director, Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco) and Khater Massaad, chief executive officer of RAKIA, in the presence of Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi for implementing the above projects, according to a government release.

The Coimbatore project would come up in an area of 1,000 acre and would have an IT SEZ supported by an integrated township, which will have social infrastructure including a golf course, shopping malls, a resort hotel, wellness spa, and single and multi-family homes with international standards. The project, which is expected to be completed in five years, will have about five million sq. ft of IT space and generate job opportunities for over 50,000 people.

RAKIA’s other project, which will come up on a 500-acre area in Kancheepuram district, will have water sports, leisure, entertainment and high-end residential and world class golf course. This project would provide job opportunities for over 15,000 people.

Coimbatore is emerging as the next major destination for the manufacturing sector. While several IT firms are looking at Coimbatore for future expansion, a number of manufacturing companies have also set up shop here due to availability of skilled labour.

Engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro has made Coimbatore its high-tech manufacturing hub. It has set up two facilities on over 300 acre in Coimbatore for the manufacture of high-end industrial valves and switchboards to cater to domestic and international markets.

Germany's Robert Bosch has also set up its engineering centre in Coimbatore to support its high-end technology products and services.

Air Deccan plans foray into cargo services

2007-04-28T23:52:00.000-07:00

Can a consumer hope to get seasonal fruits from far off production centres sooner than he does now, that too at a relatively lower cost?

That possibility appears imminent as the low cost domestic airliner, Air Deccan which set a trend in introducing the `no-frills' air travel three years ago is planning a repeat, this time in offering low cost cargo services by taking advantage of its fast growing network of air services linking regional airports.

The Bangalore-based airline is poised to enter into domestic cargo services shortly. To facilitate this the board of Air Deccan has already approved floating a new subsidiary that would run a low cost domestic air cargo services, according to Air Deccan officials.

Indications are that the new service from the airline will take off within a month or so.

"We are actively strategising to begin low cost cargo operations with the conviction that transporting apples from Kashmir to Chennai at a lowest possible cost will give a much needed boost to our primary economy,' an Air Deccan communication has said.

Air Deccan's proposed entry into freight service is backed by the projected market outlook, as the growth for dedicated air freight service, as projected by Airbus Industries' survey, is expected to go up from the present eight to 165 services a day by 2026. Going by the demand surge for air cargo service, the Civil Aviation Ministry itself has estimated the country's need for dedicated cargo plane to touch 500 in 10 years' time.

In the meantime, the low cost airlines' agenda of widening its air network to cover more tier-2 cities of economic and historic/cultural importance is expected to get further boost as Air Deccan is to soon launch flights linking Bodhgaya and Jamshedpur to Kolkata, Ludhiana and Kangra to Delhi and new long sector flight connectivity between Chennai and Jammu (via Madurai) and Kolkata and Jaipur (via Delhi). The airline is also planning to link Salem in Tamil Nadu with Bangalore, the closest metro airport, which can happen much before its proposal to run flight service from Chennai to Salem.

Coimbatore, among the earliest regional airports to attract Air Deccan has turned out to be its strong forte with the airline flying approximately 35,000 passengers to and from the city every month and it runs 15 flights daily. Its daily flights linking Coimbatore with Mumbai and Chennai run with a passenger complements at 80 per cent and above.

Spheris India may double headcount in Coimbatore

2007-04-28T23:48:00.000-07:00

`Currently hiring is the biggest challenge for the industry'

Aiming high
Spheris India is preparing itself to emerge as the largest player in the medical transcription space within the next 3 to 5 years.
The company is scouting to establish its presence in a third location, preferably in a tier II city next year.

Spheris India Pvt Ltd is preparing itself to emerge as the largest player in the medical transcription space within the next three to five years.

The company works with over 400 hospitals in the US. "While the medical transcription business volume is growing at 10 per cent, the number of medical transcriptionists in the US is falling by 10 per cent every year. There is, therefore, a dire need for the US to look to outsourcing this service. The industry is witnessing a 50 per cent year-on-year growth in India," said the CEO and Managing Director of Spheris, Mr Suresh Nair.

Doubling headcount

With about 2,500 people on its rolls at its locations in Bangalore (2,000) and Coimbatore (500), Spheris India transcribes about 300 million lines every year. The company is planning to double its headcount in Coimbatore by 2007.

Mr Nair was in the city to witness the employee outreach programme — `Spheris Family Day' — a get-together of the 500-plus Spherians and their family, celebrated for the first time in Coimbatore on Sunday. The company expends close to Rs 1 crore every year on such events to motivate its employees, their kith and kin.

In an informal chat with media persons, he said, "We are in a capacity-driven market. There is no shortage of work, but only capacity. We are seriously looking to build our capacity in India," he said.

Besides doubling its headcount here, the company is also scouting to establish its presence in a third location, preferably in a tier II city next year. "We intend to widen our reach by adding a centre every year over the next two years," he said.

Cash rich

And the company is not looking at strengthening its presence in India alone. "We are evaluating the Phillippines too, but it is still early," Mr Nair added.

The establishment cost of a unit has been put at $2.5 million and according to Mr Nair, the company is cash rich at this juncture.

He, however, conceded that currently hiring is the biggest challenge for the industry. "While the opportunities are huge, the conversion rate is pathetic. It is just about 6 per cent and the industry attrition rate is about 15 per cent," said Mr Surya V. Ciryam, Vice-President (Human Resources).

To bridge the gap, the company has initiated discussions with colleges in Bangalore and Coimbatore for running medical transcription training programmes. "We would possibly tie-up with two colleges (one in each of the cities) for imparting the necessary training. The colleges would give the necessary training with our support."

The company wants to ramp up at least 1,000 people out of such programmes every year.

Coimbatore airport to have parallel taxi trac

2007-04-28T23:39:00.000-07:00

Will reduce runway occupancy time and enable more landings

The number of daily flights operated through Coimbatore Peelamedu airport has gone up by 100% in the last one year.

Coimbatore March 19 The rise in number of flights has forced Coimbatore airport authorities to plan for a parallel taxi tract that will cut down runway occupancy, especially during peak hour operations.

The Airports Authority of India has approved the Peelamedu airport administration's plan. The projected outlay for laying the taxi tract has been estimated at about Rs 30 crore, according to Ms Hemalatha, Airport Director, Coimbatore, AAI.

The airport of late is facing occasional flight hold-ups due to peak hour runway congestion causing bunching of flights in the evening hours, though such occurrences are few and far. But, the growth in air-passenger traffic here has sent out strong signals for the AAI Coimbatore on the need for another taxi tract, which besides reducing the runway occupancy time will also enable more landings.

Boom time

Thanks to the booming business, trade travel and the rise in flight frequency between Coimbatore and Chennai; Coimbatore and Bangalore, the number of daily flights operated through Coimbatore Peelamedu airport has gone up by 100 per cent in the last one year. As against some 14, today the daily flights to and from Coimbatore is 27, though bulk of them is from budget airlines.

The highest number of flights is between Coimbatore and Chennai, four by Paramount Airways, two each by Air Deccan and Jet Airways.

The proposed parallel taxi tract is part of the preparedness of the AAI Coimbatore to meet the potential passenger growth anticipated in the coming months. Besides the domestic passenger traffic, an increase in the flow of international passenger traffic via Coimbatore is also expected.

More flights

"Coimbatore may see introduction of at least one or two new flights in its summer schedule shortly," said the airport director.

According to Ms Sathya Suresh, Head of Travel division of Precol Travels, the leisure travel is gaining ground to and from Coimbatore airport and nearly 40 per cent of the people travelling through Coimbatore are from this category.

The rise in number of both business and leisure travellers to Singapore, Korea and China, from Coimbatore points to potential demand for a direct international connectivity from the city, she pointed out.

L&T`s inaugurates values and switchgear manufacturing facilities at Coimbatore

2007-04-28T23:15:00.002-07:00

Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Thursday, announced the inauguration of its first two facilities at the company`s 300 acre campus in Coimbatore. These facilities will manufacture high end industrial valves and switchboards, and will cater to domestic and international markets.

A M Naik, chairman & MD of the company, said, ``The new facilities signal L&T`s commitment to strengthening high end manufacturing capability within the country. They are building blocks in our larger strategic goal of enhancing capacities to meet global demand for high precision manufacturing. This is in addition to L&T`s well established world class capabilities in execution of large projects and heavy engineering. The facilities will help L&T consolidate its leadership position in the high technology manufacturing space.``

The valves facility is the fourth manufacturing unit of Audco India (AIL), a joint venture company. The additional capacities being created at Coimbatore will help AIL to meet the higher demands for gate, globe, check and ball valves including larger sizes up to 60.

The facility will have CNC machines for precision and critical operations, automatic welding machines for plasma, sub-arc and MIG processes.

The switchboards manufacturing facility at Coimbatore will augment the capability of the company – India`s largest manufacturer of low tension switchgear. The facility will soon become the largest single unit for manufacture of switchboards in the country. Manufacturing capability of 7,000 panels ar year will be increased to 13,000 panels by 2009 and to 17,000 panels by 2010. The Coimbatore facility is the company`s fourth switchgear manufacturing centre - in addition to Powai (Mumbai), Faridabad (near Delhi) and Ahmednagar (Maharashtra).

The shares of the company were last trading at Rs 1,563.90, down Rs 16.45, or 1.04%. The total volume of shares traded at the BSE was 97,774. (01.52 pm, Thursday)

Land prices hit Coimbatore's future

2007-04-28T23:15:00.001-07:00

Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) plans to establish an information technology park here on 29 acres. Foundation has been laid for a Tidel Park on the site and works have commenced.

It plans to expand this project further and is in the process of getting 26 acres more, adjacent to the site. Faced with overwhelming demand for land from IT companies, the Corporation has started looking for larger areas to develop more IT parks here.

For over six months, it is trying to identify at least 250 acres. Since the ELCOT is looking at developing social infrastructure too at the parks along with space allocation to the IT companies, it needs a minimum of 100 to 200 acres for a park. However, the spiralling land prices here are a matter of concern to the ELCOT now.

Coimbatore does not have huge chunks of Government land suitable for IT parks to take over or develop. In the case of private lands, sky-rocketing prices put Coimbatore at a disadvantage, says an ELCOT official.

"Since it is difficult to progress with such rates, we are now looking at development of only the 55 acres," the official says.

The Corporation plans IT parks in about 260 acres in Madurai and the entire space has been booked. In Tiruchi it originally proposed an IT park on 135 acres. Since the demand has shot up, it now plans to expand on another 100 acres. In these places availability of Government or Government-controlled land has helped, he adds. "Madurai and Tiruchi are certainly taking off with added advantages such as international air connectivity," he says.

In Madurai land will be allotted in one park to the IT companies to develop their own campus with housing facilities too. It will also earmark land for a school. Tidel Parks are proposed in Salem, Tirunelveli and Hosur too. In all these centres, 100 acres of land form the minimum for a park, he points out. In Coimbatore the Corporation is open to joint venture proposals too. However, the "artificial prices" have made the going tough and the IT companies will look at other centres if this continues, he says.

Hiranandani eyeing Madurai, Coimbatore

2007-04-28T23:13:00.000-07:00

Hiranandani Constructions, which last week launched a residential township in Chennai, is likely to launch housing projects in Coimbatore and Madurai, according to Mr Surendra Hiranandani, Managing Director, Hiranandani Constructions.

The company will also soon launch another project in Chennai, for the mass-market segment "hopefully within one year'', he said.

Its first project in Chennai, Hiranandani Upscale, targeted the `upper middle segment' with prices in excess of Rs 4,100 a sq. ft.

The next project, would be for the lower end and relatively more affordable.

The company is examining opportunities for acquiring land. It sees a huge potential for housing in Chennai.

Another township

The Hiranandani Group is also setting up another township project, Hiranandani Palace Gardens, to the southwest of Chennai.

This project is promoted by Hirco, a group company listed on the LSE AIM.

This will be a township on the `live-work-play' concept with a mix of residential, office, commercial, entertainment, school and healthcare space.

Coimbatore and Madurai are the two cities other than Chennai, the Hiranandani Constructions is looking at, he said.

Other places

The company is studying the market in these cities. It is also launching a housing project in Hosur.

Hiranandani Constructions, till recently a Mumbai-based developer, is now looking at a wider distribution of its projects. Its focus is now on Nagpur, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.

In Bangalore, it is setting up villa-style residence projects at Devanahalli.

Taken from Business Line

thehindubusinessline.in

Set up Coimbatore Development Authority

2007-04-28T23:10:00.001-07:00

Having emerged as the second important city in the State, Coimbatore now demands not just better infrastructure but also a planned development to attract more investments and avoid haphazard development.

While the demand for better roads, bridges and other facilities continue, some of the voluntary organisations are seeking Government help to improve awareness on building rules and simplification of procedures for building approvals.

The Resident Awareness Association of Coimbatore, in association with Citizens Alliance for Sustainable Living, has prepared a draft of Development Management Guidelines. It has submitted to the State Government two lakh signatures collected by it demanding efforts to improve infrastructure.A draft of the guidelines has been prepared since the existing development control regulations are archaic and need to be changed according to the growing needs of the city, says C.R. Swaminathan, president of the association.

The former chairman of the Builders' Association of India, Coimbatore Centre, G. Ramamoorthi, says that awareness on compliance to building rules has increased. However, the process of approval needs to be speeded up and a Coimbatore Development Authority should be established at the earliest.

Minister reviews development schemes in Coimbatore

2007-04-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

Minister for Information, Town Planning and Urban Development Parithi Illamvazhuthi reviewed here on Sunday various development works taken up by the planning authorities in the western region of the State.

The Minister specifically reviewed a detailed plan for the Coimbatore Local Planning Authority areas. The authority has prepared a final report on the plan, incorporating the views of the general public and representatives from various other fields such as engineers, builders and development experts.

A press release from the district administration said that the land use pattern and schemes had been designed taking into account a population of 20 lakh.

Inner and outer ring roads, overbridges, beautification of Sanganur Canal, a truck terminal and a technology park were some of the developments envisaged in the plan.

The Minister said that orders would be issued soon to facilitate devolution of powers to the local bodies to grant plan approval in new townships being developed at Kurichi.

Development works were being taken up in Tirupur on the basis of a plan that was being implemented from December last year. More than 60 development projects had been planned for Tirupur, it was said at the meeting.

The raise of Coimbatore

2007-04-28T23:04:00.000-07:00

Mega townships to come up in Coimbatore, Kancheepuram

MoU for Rs. 20,000-cr. project inked with Government of Ras al Khaimah The Coimbatore township is expected to generate employment for 50,000 persons

THINKING BIG: Khater Massaad, CEO, Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority(extreme right), exchanges documents with S. Ramasundaram, CMD, TIDCO, to promote mega townships in Coimbatore and Kancheepuram, in the presence of Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi at the Secretariat in Chennai on Saturday.

Two mega townships with world-class facilities will be set up in Coimbatore and Kancheepuram at an estimated cost of Rs. 20,000 crore.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by S. Ramasundaram, TIDCO Chairman and Managing Director, on behalf of the State, and Khater Massaad, Chief Executive Officer of the Ras al Khaimah Investment Authority, on behalf of the Government of Ras al Khaimah (UAE), in the presence of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi here on Saturday.

Golf course

The Coimbatore project will come up on 1000 acres and will have an Information Technology Special Economic Zone supported by an integrated feeder township. The township will also have a golf course, shopping malls, resort hotel, health spa and single and multiple family homes matching up to international standards.

The township, expected to be completed in five years, will have about 5 million sq.ft of IT space and is expected to generate employment for over 50,000 persons.

Marina project

The 500-acre Kadalur Marina project in Kancheepuram district will have water sports, leisure entertainment, high-end residential facilities and a world-class golf course. It will provide employment to over 15,000 people. Land for projects is being purchased directly by the promoters.

Electricity Minister N. Veerasamy, Chief Secretary L.K. Tripathi, Finance Secretary K. Gnanadesikan, and Industries Secretary Shaktikanta Das were present.

International consultancy firm eyes Coimbatore

2007-03-11T03:44:00.000-07:00

Flourishing manufacturing sector and growing importance of IT provide impetus to real estate sector in city
The Rs 100 crore international consultancy firm Trammel Crow Meghraj Property Consultants Pvt Ltd has great hopes of the potential of Coimbatore as a realty hub.
Focal point
N.Anathanarayanan, its Regional Director, says that for his company, which is a "one-stop-shop for real estate solutions", Coimbatore will be the focal point in the State, next only to Chennai.
The company has ten offices in the whole of the country, including the four metros, and the last one, set up recently, is the one in Coimbatore.
According to him, the flourishing manufacturing sector in Coimbatore region combined with the current focus of the Government on developing it as an IT hub has provided a great impetus to the real estate sector in this tier-two city.
Mr. Ananthanarayanan observes that commercial developments in the city have been mostly catering to banking and industrial sectors.
"There is a sudden change in the overlook since Tamil Nadu Government started promoting Coimbatore as the next IT destination," he said.
He points out that four IT parks with 3.5 lakh sqft area have already been completed here.
Under construction
While three more such parks are under construction with 3.25 lakh sqft area, ten more are proposed with 9.25 lakh sqft area on 357 acres.
Apart from the TIDEL Park planned by the Electronic Corporation of Tamil Nadu close to the Medical College, the KG group has acquired 160 acres near its existing campus on Thudiyalur road (near Saravanampatti) for developing it as ITES and BPO Special Economic Zone.
In addition, the ELCOT has identified 109 acres in the Bharathiar University campus itself for the proposed BU-ELCOT city.
Coimbatore, which has been traditionally playing a major role in trade and commerce of southern India, is now witnessing the construction of two malls (multiplexes) in total with 2.5 lakh sqft area.. Six more malls are expected with 4.2 lakh sqft built-up area on 5.8 acres of land in due course.
Similarly, two major townships — Sahara Township and Metro Corp Monte Visa — are coming up. Besides, more than 20 major residential units, totally with 3,000 apartments, are expected to get completed in the next three years.
Corporates
Mr.Ananthanarayanan says that a number of corporates have been approaching his company wanting to know " right place" and "right size" of the land and building for their proposed unit.
"Their query to us is where should I set up my unit, the size of the unit and find me a place," he says.
With specific reference to Coimbatore, he says the developers are on the lookout for land for residential units. "At times we get exclusive mandate for marketing of the constructed units," he observes.
The company builds up a pool for retail and commercial properties.
He points out that his company usually does a feasibility study including financial modelling. "We are trying to understand the business of the client before suggesting suitable land for his use," he says.
According to him, a number of developers from Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore are looking for land for establishing residential units in this region.
Good potential
Trammel Crow has 10 offices in the country, including the four metros, and the most recent one is in Coimbatore
Developers from Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore are looking for land for establishing residential units

Coimbatore identified as ODI centre

2007-03-04T02:25:00.000-08:00

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) has identified Coimbatore as an ideal centre for holding one-day internationals (ODI) outside Chennai in view of the past experience of ODIs held in Chennai having been abandoned due to heavy rains during the North-East monsoon.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the District Secretaries Forum of the TNCA held under the Presidentship of N. Srinivasan, TNCA President here on Sunday.
K.S. Viswanathan, Assistant Secretary of the TNCA told The Hindu that the future tour programmes of the International Cricket Conference (ICC) included Test or ODIs in Chennai during the period from October to December when the North-East monsoon was active in this part of India.
Stadium building
Mr. Viswanathan said that the TNCA would build in Coimbatore a stadium, which would have facilities for spectators, players and the media persons. A press box would be provided. The Coimbatore District Cricket Association (CDCA), which has a 7.5 acre-land, is willing to lend it to the TNCA to construct the stadium.
The meeting also discussed the need for construction of stadiums and improvement of the grounds in the districts. Grounds have been identified for improvement in Tiruchi and Theni.

Information Technology (IT) companies have booked about two lakh square feet for occupation at the Tidel Park here.

2007-03-04T02:21:00.000-08:00

Information Technology (IT) companies have booked about two lakh square feet for occupation at the Tidel Park here. The park will have a total built up area of one million sq. ft.
Managing Director of the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) C. Umashankar told The Hindu on Saturday that confirmation was awaited from companies for occupation of more area. "By the time construction works start for the park the entire area will be booked," he says. Most of these would be small and medium-scale enterprises.
Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi laid the foundation for the park here on Saturday. Building works at the park are expected to start in a couple of months and would be completed by November or December 2008. The park is coming up at a total investment of Rs. 300 crore.
Mr. Umashankar said lands would be handed over soon to Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for their facilities at the IT park here. The park was coming up on 29 acres near the Coimbatore Medical College.
While the Tidel Park, jointly promoted by ELCOT and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, would occupy 10 acres, Wipro would get 10 acres and TCS five acres.
The final customs notification for Special Economic Zone status for the park was awaited, he said.
ELCOT was waiting to get another 27 acres from the Health Department

Expressway, short flyovers to decongest Coimbatore roads

2006-12-30T22:14:00.000-08:00

WILL THIS EASE?: Expressways and flyovers are planned by the Coimbatore Corporation as a solution to traffic congestion such as this one on Avanashi Road. — Photo: K. Ananthan

COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore Corporation is working on various options to decongest the city's main roads. Two major options being considered are expressways and short flyovers. The aim is to not only provide separate facilities for vehicles travelling short and long distances but also to eliminate delay at traffic signals.

In the backdrop of an earlier plan to widen Avanashi Road, the Corporation plans an expressway for vehicles bound for the airport, outskirts such as Kalapati and Chinniampalayam and also to Avanashi, Tirupur and Erode.

Delay at the signals in the city and time constraints leads to speeding and high accident rates on Avanashi Road. But, the Corporation feels that the expressway alone will not be sufficient.

Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran indicates that short flyovers may also be built to eliminate delay at signals and the resultant speeding.

If these projects are implemented, Avanashi Road may have a three-tier traffic system - the existing road, the expressway and the short flyovers. For instance, a short flyover (over the express way or below it) at the Lakshmi Mills Junction may help avoid holding up traffic for long at the signal.

Corporation sources say that the need for short flyovers is felt at the 100 Feet Road-Sathyamangalam Road Junction and at Dr. Nanjappa Road-Cross Cut Road-Bharathiar Road Junction.

With most of the junctions in the core city area becoming congested and witnessing frequent traffic snarls, the Corporation feels that flyovers may be the only way out.

The signal at the Avanashi Road-Headquarters Road Junction, popularly known as JM Signal or Uppilipalayam, is another chaotic traffic point. Traffic crawls towards the flyover at morning and evening. The expressway has been planned from the flyover itself. If built, a large number of long distance vehicles will not choke that point.

The City Development Plan (CDP) of the Corporation lists the following places as those identified for flyovers: Tiruchi Road-Nanjundapuram Road Junction, Singanallur Junction, Lakshmi Mills Junction, Gandhipuram Bus Stand, G.P. Hospital, Sowripalayam Junction, Nirmala College Junction at Sungam, Ukkadam, Thadagam Road-Marudamalai Road Junction and Dr. Nanjappa Road-Avanashi Road Junction.

The CDP has been prepared as part of the infrastructure improvement efforts under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The Corporation continues to study the requirements of the city in terms of traffic management. He says elevated highways and flyovers have ensured smooth flow of traffic in countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.

Land getting ready for the proposed IT park in Coimbatore

2006-12-16T05:25:00.000-08:00

Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) is on the lookout for more land in Coimbatore to promote information technology sector here.

According to its Managing Director, C. Umashankar, the Corporation is ready to acquire even 1,000 to 2,000 acres "since there is so much demand for Coimbatore". But the land should be suitable for IT firms.

The proposal for transfer of 27 acres, which is adjacent to the proposed IT park site (29 acres) on Avinashi Road near the Coimbatore Medical College, from the health department to ELCOT is at an "advanced stage", he says. The land that the Corporation is looking out for is in addition to these sites.

TIDEL park

Meanwhile, on the proposed TIDEL park here, he says sites would be handed over to the respective companies in a couple of weeks.

The cleaning up works began on Thursday. ELCOT has appointed an architect to make a layout scientifically, since the park will have facilities such as Customs House. After clearing the site, works will start immediately to lay the approach road, which will be about one km.

The Corporation is on the lookout for large areas since the new projects will be on the "campus model," with facilities such as dwelling units, hospital and school within the campus.

The campus model will provide for the essential needs of the employees in the same area. It will be a self-contained development.

Silk Air to fly Coimbatore,Tiruchi

2006-11-30T20:55:00.000-08:00

Flight to Singapore
[ 29 Nov, 2006 0001hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

Singapore International Airlines (SIA) launched its sixth flight, a Tuesday service, to Bangalore, increasing the weekly seat capacity to 1,816 seats. The sixth flight will see a 20 per cent increase on seat capacity.

Singapore Airlines general manager (India) Foo Chai Woo said the airline hopes to make Bangalore a daily destination soon and hoped the next bilateral talks between Singapore and India would grant the airline the requisite permission.

SIA has offered a cool Rs 6,666 plus taxes return fare for the Tuesday flight as an introductory offer and the tickets have to be booked before December 2. Those booked on this fare can fly from November 28 to January 31. This is against a normal fare of Rs 20,000 plus taxes. Similarly, a fare of Rs 7,777 on the Bangalore-Kuala Lumpur sector and Rs 8,888 on the Bangalore-Bangkok sector has been offered.

Soon, the airline's subsidiary, Silk Air, which operates to Tiruvanthapuram and Kochi, is looking at starting services in cities like Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Nagpur among other places.

Helios & Matheson in expansion gear

2006-11-25T07:40:00.000-08:00

With acquisitions and mergers as the quickest way to expand globally nowadays, it is not surprising that Chennai-based Helios and Matheson Information Technology Ltd., a healthcare focused IT firm, is planning to consolidate its earlier acquisition of a listed US company, The A Consulting Team (TACT), and embark on fresh ones.“Three hot prospects worth US$ 50-100 million are on the anvil; all of them reputed and listed American companies in healthcare verticals. Acquisition of one of the three is expected by March 2007,” V Ramachandiran, chairman told this website’s newspaper.Ramachandiran said integration of an acquired company takes eight quarters and the company expects to integrate US$ four million of the US$ 27 million TACT top-line by March 2007. Explaining the advantages of acquisition for foreign companies, Ramachandiran said, “These companies are not familiar with India, so operating individually in the country would be a problem for them. Moreover, cost of services is 50 percent higher in Europe and America compared to that in India.” For an Indian company, a foreign acquisition brings a basket of reputed clients to its fold, results in improved profitability and brings down operating costs further.With the new acquisition, Helios & Matheson expects to improve its turnover to Rs 394 crore (Rs 221.36 crore) and PAT to Rs 55 crore (Rs 38.14 crore) in FY07, a growth of 78 percent over the previous year. “Over the last two quarters we have been witnessing a phenomenal growth in healthcare IT (HIT) investment by our clients in the life sciences, healthcare insurance, and health maintenance organisations,” said vice president, Divya Ramachandran.“Gartner too has identified HIT as one of the six key IT trends that are expected to have a significant impact on the IT industry. Gartner analysts have predicted that by 2009, healthcare investments in IT would increase by more than 50 percent which could enable clinicians to reduce the level of preventable deaths by 50 percent by 2013.”Meanwhile, the company is adding between two and four clients every quarter to its customer list. It is planning to set up an offshore development centre in Coimbatore by the middle of next year. The company is looking at a 20-acre piece of land on which a 500-seater facility will be set up with the number to be scaled up to 3,000 employees, largely engineers, over the next three years.Starting with a builtup area of around 50,000 sq. feet, the area will be increased to three lakh sq. ft. over the same period at an investment of Rs 30 crore, to be funded from internal accruals.“It will be a generic facility. Coimbatore is well-connected with 20,000 engineering students passing out per annum, which makes it an ideal location,” added Ramachandiran. The company is also ramping up its KPO facility in Bangalore where image analysis and data interpretation are undertaken. The headcount of doctors will be increased from 40 to 80 over the next 12 months.

Kingfisher launches new flight services from Coimbatore

2006-11-25T07:25:00.000-08:00

Kingfisher Airlines has launched 58 new flight services across 15 new routes connecting nine important cities. The new services include flights to Jammu, Pune and Ahmedabad from Coimbatore.
According to a release from Vijay Mallaya, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kingfisher, here on Friday, the new services are from Varanasi, Pune, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Jammu and Hyderabad. The launch of new routes takes the number of daily flights operated by Kingfisher Airlines to 130, connecting 23 destinations. Kingfisher has three new Airbus A321 aircraft in its fleet and the fourth is set to join later this week. With the acquisition of four A321 aircraft and one ATR72-500, the fleet size has gone up to 22.
From Coimbatore
The services launched from Coimbatore and their schedules are as follows: The Ahmedabad-Coimbatore flight will take off at 18.05 hours and arrive Coimbatore at 20.15 hours. In the return direction, it will take off from Coimbatore at 10.00 hours and arrive Ahmedabad at 12.10 hours.
The Bangalore-Coimbatore flight will take off at 08.30 hours and arrive Coimbatore at 09.10 hours and leave Coimbatore at 20.45 hours to reach Bangalore at 21.45 hours.
The Coimbatore-Jammu flight will take off at 10.00 hours to reach Jammu at 15.00 hours. It will take off from Jammu at 15.30 hours to reach Coimbatore at 20.15 hours. The Coimbatore-Pune flight will take off from Coimbatore at 20.45 hours and reach Pune at 23.20 hours. It will take off from Pune at 06.30 hours to reach Coimbatore at 09.10 hours.

Big Bazaar opens shop in Coimbatore

2006-11-25T07:04:00.000-08:00

Big Bazaar, the value retailing store of Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd and a part of the Future Group, has made its entry into Tamil Nadu by setting up its first store in the State at Coimbatore.
The Group is planning its next store at Chennai before the close of this calendar year, before gaining footprint into other happening towns such as Salem and Trichy.
Addressing presspersons after inaugurating a 50,000-sq-ft store at Oppanakara Street in the heart of the city, its Business Manager, Mr Venkateshwar Kumar, said there would be special offers and discounts on the 1.60 lakh products available off the shelf all through the year.
Stores Investment
The multi-level store now offers 43,000 sq ft shopping area. "We have set aside another 10,000 sq ft for entertainment and food court. This would come up on the fourth floor and is expected to be ready within the next two months." The Group has, since setting up its first shop in Bangalore five years back, opened eight malls of which six have been set up in Karnataka and two in Andhra Pradesh. The ninth Big Bazaar outlet has come up in Coimbatore. The investment on each of these stores ranged between Rs 12 crore and Rs 15 crore, he said.
The company has stores in 30 cities across the country. The company is planning to open a store in Palakad in neighbouring Kerala next month. "We have identified places like Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kasargud for setting up the store. At least three more outlets would come up in Kerala by January next," he said.
More Stores
The company is planning to open at least 15 Big Bazaar stores in the South over the next one year. According to Mr Kumar, the food court, entertainment zone and health care beauty saloon were exclusive to Coimbatore. When asked about the possibility of opening a second store in Coimbatore, he said "it can happen, not immediately though."
Answering a query, he said all Big Bazaar stores had come up only in rented/leased premises. "We have never looked at acquiring the building or developing the property on our own land. We are focused on addressing the home maker's endeavour of optimal saving while giving the shopping convenience by serving quality products at unbelievable rates."
On location of the store, he said the company's study revealed that a majority visited the bazaar area in the city to pick their requirements at the cheapest rate. "So we decided to locate our store here and give a stiff fight (on pricing and quality) to the vendors in this area."
The numbers
On business growth, Mr Kumar said the company registered a turnover of Rs 250 crore during the last year from 4 outlets. "We are hoping to cross the Rs 1,000-crore mark this year from about 15 outlets. We are expecting the turnover from this outlet to touch Rs 50 crore in the next 12 months."
The company is sourcing most of the items from local vendors. "The procurement is not centralised," he said.

Suzlon to set up 2nd facility in Coimbatore, TN

2006-11-25T06:57:00.000-08:00

Suzlon Energy is planning to set up an energy engineering facility over a 250-acre plot about 20 km west of Coimbatore. This will be the largest corporate facility of its kind so far in the southern city of Tamil Nadu, reports Business Standard. So far, the Pune-headquartered wind energy major has had a foundry unit operating from Coimbatore. The upcoming expansion will help it widen its manufacturing footprint in south India. Suzlon, which had already completed the purchase of the required land, was in `advanced stages` of talks with the Tamil Nadu government. The company had submitted documents pertaining to the land purchase procedures of the facility. Following the physical inspection and approval by state and local authorities, the commerce ministry was expected to give its final go-ahead by mid-December. And then, Suzlon was expected to start construction work on the facility by January next year. Moreover, the project, which will come up along the L&T bypass road that links Palladam taluk with Tirupur, was given the initial go-ahead by the commerce ministry on October 6 with full benefits accorded to it under the SEZ Act of 2004. Suzlon, one of the world`s leading wind energy turbine producers, shares more than half of the domestic wind turbines market.

Kovai poised to become a retail hub

2006-10-24T00:22:00.000-07:00

If the Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) rates India as number one country for opportunities in retail growth, down South, cities like Coimbatore are witnessing a flurry of activities in this sector.

Quite impressed by the kind of growth that is happening in Coimbatore, Gibson G Vedamani, CEO of Retailers Association of India, Mumbai, who was in the city recently, predicted that Coimbatore was poised to become a retail hub, next to Chennai in the next three years.

He did not forget to recall that Sri Krishna Sweets had branched out from Coimbatore several decades ago. Big names in textile business like the Chennai Silks are also here.

With more shopping malls and multiplexes coming up in the city, K Srinivasan, Assistant Professor, Jansons School of Business, said that high-end shopping was catching up in the textile city.

“We now have Krishna Collections on DB Road, Vibe on Race Course Road, Adlabs of Reliance group is coming up, besides many multiplexes, helped by the emerging consumerism. The cosmopolitan psyche is getting rooted here,” he added.

He also noted how book-retailing was also coming up in a big way with Odyssey already having opened one outlet and likely to open another, while Crossword and Landmark were set to open shops. The current growth is supplemented by the upbeat trend in other sectors like realty sector, and of course, Information Technology (IT).

“The relaxation of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms in realty sector has facilitated a flow of investment, thereby providing retailers a good space,” remarked Gibson.

If modern retail industry has given customers a good shopping experience and thrown open plenty of employment opportunities, the buoyant economy, as its contribution, has increased the purchasing power of the people.

Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Coimbatore Zone, Jayakumar Ramdass, also echoed the same sentiment. “The purchasing power of the people has gone up manifold and the retail sector is poised for a big growth in Coimbatore.”

Besides the customers here, retail outlets in Coimbatore are witnessing regular shoppers from neighbouring States like Karnataka and Kerala.

P D Francis, Manager of Alukkas, said its Coimbatore branch is doing well, with more customers opting for high-end products.

However, Jayakumar Ramadass stated that there remained a lot of scope for Coimbatore to grow in several other areas of the retail sector like household materials. “The rural economy is much bigger,” he opined.

Bosch launches Coimbatore facility

2006-10-23T00:16:00.000-07:00

Germany-based Bosch will invest euro 325 million (Rs 1,800 crore) in India over three years.

The company is expecting 25% revenue from the Asia-Pacific region by 2015, and India is expected to contribute a major share of the total sales, currently at euro 730 million (Rs 4,000 crore), Franz Fehrenbach,chairman of Robert Bosch GmbH, said today.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Coimbatore facility of Robert Bosch India, Fehrenbach said the company is investing euro 325 million, amounting to 7.4% of total sales, for R&D and would continue to invest on research on a consistent basis.

Friedhelm Pickhard, managing director of Robert Bosch India, said the Coimbatore facility would handle services in automotive applications, industrial automation, mechanical engineering and shared services.

Passport offices in Madurai, Coimbatore

2006-10-23T00:07:00.000-07:00

Passport offices are likely to be opened in Madurai and Coimbatore by the first quarter of next year.

An indication to this was given by the Union Minister of State for External Affairs, E. Ahamed, in a communication to the Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Dayanidhi Maran, said a press release from the latter's office.

Air Deccan to connect Ahmedabad and Coimbatore via Bangalore

2006-10-22T23:53:00.000-07:00

India's first low cost flier, Air Deccan today announced daily flights between Ahmedabad and Coimbatore via Bangalore, effective November two.

A 180 seater A 320 aircraft would be deployed in the route, An Air Deccan release said here today.

Ahmedabad in Gujarat and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu enjoy a long history of being the most important centres of Indian textile and engineering industries. The two cities were also traditional hubs of trade and commerce, besides being home to several educational institutions of higher learning. Both Ahmedabad and Coimbatore were already well connected on the Air Deccan network.

Ahmedabad airport recently got its first ever aircraft base set up by Air Deccan and was connected to Chennai and Hyderabad. The airliner connects Coimbatore to Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai with daily flights.

With the launch of the Ahmedabad-Coimbatore service, Air Deccan became the only airline providing daily connectivity between the two cities.

Flight DN 741 will leave Ahmedabad at 1530 hrs, reach Bangalore at 1730 hrs, leave Bangalore for Coimbatore at 1800 hrs and land at Coimbatore at 1830 hrs. In the reverse direction it will leave Coimbatore at 1900 hrs, arrive in Bangalore at 1930 hrs and depart for Ahmedabad at 2000 hrs and land at Ahmedabad at 2200 hrs.

The Schedule was subject to approval by relevant government authorities, the release said.

Air Deccan Chief Operating Officer Warrick Brady said in the release that the low cost flier was the first to identify the relevance of affordable air connectivity between growing cities in India and provide inter regional connectivity at unmatched low fares.

The choc a bloc load factor of over 85 per cent on an average, on all Air Deccan flights from Ahmedabad and from Coimbatore had prompted it to launch a daily flight connecting Ahmedabad and Coimbatore in a single journey.

He said ''as part of our constant endeavor to provide the lowest possible fares to our passengers, we are offering inaugural fares on the Ahmedabad-Bangalore-Coimbatore flight at Rs.1974/- (plus taxes). Moreover as part of our Destination No.1 campaign, we are offering tickets at Rs Six (plus taxes) on the Bangalore-Coimbatore sector. Ahmedabad and Coimbatore were not even connected on a single rail network taking up more than two days of journey time. This new service along with the lowest possible fares would indeed provide a convenient travel option to thousands of people planning a trip between the two cities''.

KCT setting up another Rs 35-cr IT park

2006-10-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

Construction contract awarded; project likely to be completed by March

`We already have applications from six companies of which two are from Japan.'

Coimbatore , Oct. 2

Kumaraguru College of Technology (KCT) is in the process of setting up another IT park within its campus in an area of 2.3 lakh sq. ft.

The work on this estimated Rs 35-crore project is expected to commence in the first week of October. "Construction contract has been awarded and we expect the project to be complete by March next," its Joint Correspondent, Dr A. Selva Kumar, told Business Line.

Its first project, which houses IT giants such as Cognizant and Spheris was established in 2005 in a built-up space of 3 lakh sq. ft.

Space set aside

Dr Selva Kumar recalled that the space was then set aside for some start-up IT companies, which could use the facility as an incubator. "But the STPI Director, Ms Rajalakshmi, drew the attention of renowned IT players and Cognizant had no second thoughts about taking up 40,000 sq ft. Spheris came in later, but Cognizant has expanded its presence by taking up another 35,000 sq. ft three months back."

Considering Cognizant's request for additional space and the demand from other IT companies has driven KCT to allocate more space, and this time for establishing an IT park — a plug and play model. "We already have the application from six companies of which two are from Japan. Our preference would be to lease out the space to IT companies because of the park's proximity to the engineering college," he said.

Beneficial to students

Dr Selva Kumar pointed out that lot of students were benefited by the location because they got to do projects in these companies and the executive programmes could also be conducted within the campus.

"Connectivity is no issue as the STPI earth station is located close by and 6 ISPs have fibre terminations here," he said.

The 150-acre KCT campus is now using just 50 per cent of the area. "We still have another 70 acres. Future expansion possibilities are bright," was all he said when asked if the management would look at allocating that space for promotion of IT parks

Courtesy : The business line

Bharathiar varsity techno park

2006-10-04T06:26:00.000-07:00

Bharathiar University (BU) is planning to tie-up with the State Government for establishing the BU-Elcot R&D Techno Park city within its campus.

Dr G. Thiruvasagam, Vice-Chancellor, BU, has within a month of assuming charge, set the project, which was put in the backburner for over a decade, in motion. "We have just started the ground levelling work in about 25 acres of the 109 acres earmarked for this project. We would like to moot this project jointly with the Government of Tamil Nadu. We are in talks," Dr Thiruvasagam told Business Line. The total project cost has been estimated at Rs 12 crore.

Elcot officials have undertaken a survey of the proposed site. The Vice-Chancellor, clarified that the building structure would have to be put up by the companies taking the land, while the promoters ensure to provide the basic amenities.

Courtesy : The business line

Singapore, Coimbatore air link planned

2006-10-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

COIMBATORE: SILK Air is considering direct air connectivity between Coimbatore and Singapore, said Balaji Sadasivam, Singapore's Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Information, Communication and Arts.

He was addressing the members of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Coimbatore, at a meeting held here on Monday.

According to a CII release, Mr. Sadasivam said there was a quantum jump during the last two years in not only business travellers between Singapore and this region but also "leisure travellers." Hence SILK Air was considering direct air connectivity between Coimbatore and Singapore and this was awaiting Central Government's approval.

"Singapore and Coimbatore can complement each other in the field of healthcare, education and engineering design."

A hub

Though Singapore might not be cost competitive to set up a manufacturing unit, Coimbatore could make use of its advancements in textile and engineering design and make Singapore a hub to reach out faster to the South East Asian countries and the Western parts of the U.S., he said.

Further, Singapore was looking at creating special economic zones in India, he added.

Bilateral trade

The Chairman of the CII, Coimbatore Zone, Jayakumar Ramdass, said bilateral trade and investment links between Singapore and India had seen a dramatic growth in recent years.

Various multinational companies were routing their investments in India through their Singapore subsidiaries. Companies from Singapore had invested in various projects in India such as logistics, health services, electronics and software.

Top five sectors

The top five sectors that attracted Foreign Direct Investment from Singapore included telecommunications, services (financial and non-financial), electrical equipment (including computer software and electronics), fuel and transportation industries.

India's trade with Singapore grew three times in the last five years and this was contributed by surge in exports and imports from and to Singapore, the release said

Courtesy : The Hindu

27 more acres identified for IT companies in Coimbatore

2006-09-30T03:48:00.000-07:00

27 more acres identified for IT companies in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: With the demand for IT space increasing in Coimbatore, the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu has identified 27 more acres for the IT and IT Enabled Services sector.

The ELCOT already has 29.4 acres near the Coimbatore Medical College with Special Economic Zone status, and is expected to allocate 15 acres to two IT majors. The ELCOT will develop an IT park, similar to the TIDEL Park in Chennai, on another 10 acres. Discussions are under way.

With more IT companies looking out for space here, the ELCOT has identified 27 acres more of Coimbatore Medical College land, contiguous to the site it already has. ELCOT Managing Director C. Umashankar, who was here on Friday to inspect the land, said: "A report will be submitted to the State Government next week."

"There is good demand for IT space in Coimbatore." If the State Government approved the additional land identified, the ELCOT would request the Centre to bring the additional land too under the Special Economic Zone, he said.

Work on the common facilities, such as access road to the land, would start soon, he said.

Jayakumar Ramdass, chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry, Coimbatore Zone, said the ELCOT should soon bring up the IT park it planned for the benefit of smaller companies. "An IT park should have a cluster of small and medium ... companies." Further, since there was more demand from the IT companies for space, the ELCOT should acquire additional land to cater to the needs of all the companies. He also stressed the need for adequate infrastructure in and around the park.

Courtesy : The Hindu