CHAPTER IV
EXISTING INDUSTRIAL SCENARIO - A REVIEW

Erode district is one of the most industrialised in the state of Tamilnadu. Industry and Trade occupy a place of prominence in the economy of the District. Industries that flourished in early days in and around Erode area were Handlooms weaving and carpet manufacturing. The advent of modern era has changed these industries to some extent and the powerloom weaving is slowly replacing it. Erode District is predominantly agricultural in nature is emerging gradually and steadily in food products and beverages sector.

Erode District is occupying 5^th place in Small Scale Industries next to Coimbatore, Chennai, Salem and Kancheepuram Districts. The district is having 23918 Registered SSI units as on 31.03.2000. The share of SSI units in Tamilnadu State is about 5.9%.

Same of the important industries in this district are listed below.

1. Cotton Textiles Industry
2. Edible Oil Mills
3. Rice Mills
4. Other Food Product Industries
5. Leather Products
6. Non Metallic - Mineral Products

Cotton Textiles

Textile industry is the oldest and one of the biggest industries in the district. It provides large scale employment and is a source of foreign exchange earner. Textile industry has developed in all the three segments namely mill sector, handloom and powerloom in this district.

1. Mill Sector

   The units in this sector mainly spinning oriented. Out of the 47 units in the medium and large scale sector, 36 units are coming under spinning sector, one unit is a composite unit, 7 units are engaged in textile processing activities like bleaching, dyeing, calendering, mercerising, printing etc, and two units are coming under knitting activities. Besides these, there are number of powerloom and handloom units functioning in this district.
   
   The profit in the spinning mills has been declining since 1990. According to SITRA, the net profit in the first half of the 90s has averaged about 2% of sales and between 1999 and 1998, the mills have incurred a loss of about 3% due to steep increase in the input cost namely cotton, power, interest and overheads without any commensurate increase in yarn selling prices. Hence, nearly 60% of the units are in the red.
   
   Textiles account for one fifth of the country’s industrial production, 7% of the GDP and 30% of its exports. India is the largest exporter of cotton yarn and 3rd largest producer of cotton. Textile export are the largest foreign exchange earner for the nation, with the exports crossing the 10 billion mark even in 1997-98. However, due to competition both within and global, despite the rise in exports, the unit realisation and margins have been eroded. The industry has attained unplanned growth with excess spinning capacity and without the Technological Upgradation in all the sectors.

2. Handlooms

   Handloom industry is the traditional industry in Tamilnadu providing employment to 10 lakh persons. In Erode district, there are a number of villages wherein the handloom sector tends to concentrate as indicated below.

Handloom Focal centres and their location

There are 48833 handlooms in this district as per 1995 census in this district. Total number of persons engaged in this sector is 32,418. There are 220 Nos. of weavers Cooperative Societies functioning in this district.

Production particulars of the handloom in cooperative focal for the past three year are given below.

HANDLOOM PRODUCTION PARTICULARS

During 1999-2000 this district has produced 238.54 lakhs metres of handloom products worth of Rs.116 crores in cooperative fold.

Export of Handloom Products

Handloom weavers Cooperative Societies are exporting their products outside the country and contributing foreign currency earnings to our country from 1999 - 2000. The type of products exported are Bedspreads, Bed Covers, Screen Cloth, Table Cloth, Table Mat and Towels. The details of the export is given below.

To develop this sector both Central & State Government are implementing various schemes through the office of the Assistant Director (Handloom & Textiles) at Erode. The schemes are

1. Handloom Development Centre
2. Project Package Scheme
3. Help Package Scheme
4. Housing scheme for weavers
5. Export Package scheme

3. Powerlooms

   Powerloom sector plays a major role in the country. The quantum of production of fabrics in the powerloom sector works out to 57% of the overall production. The powerloom industry provides one of the basic necessities of life. But the most significant contribution is that it provides employment to more than 75 lakhs workers in our country. As the powerloom units are situated mostly in semi urban and rural areas, it contributes substantially to the growth of the economy in those areas.
   
   The industry is endowed with availability of raw cotton and the raw materials indigenously, in adequate quantity at reasonable cost. Labour is available at lower wages. Overhead costs of the unit are relatively lower. The industry is in a position to offer products at competitive rates as compared to the mill products. These are essentially strength of the industry.
   
   The productivity of the industry is lower. Quality of the products manufactured in most cases is not up to the international standard. Marketing structure is weak and therefore find it difficult to sell the products effectively. These are basically the weakness of the industry, which has prevented the industry from achieving its full market potential.
   
   A major draw back is that the industry has not been modernised adequately. The machinery installed is obsolete, which needs replacement immediately. The technology employed in the industry for manufacture of textiles is outdated, resulting in increased cost and lack of sufficient demand for the products manufactured. The immediate task is therefore upgradation and modernisation of the textile industry at a faster pace. The need for immediate modernisations of the industry arises from the fact that by the end of 2004, quota restriction imposed by certain developed countries like USA & European Union, will be completely phased out.
   
   In the post quota regime, i.e. from 2005 onwards, there will be intense competion from the supplying countries to increase the respective market shares. In such a situation, only those countries, which have products qualitatively superior and are in a position to offer products at competitive rates will survive. The need for undertaking modernisation at faster pace is therefore assumes greater importance.
   
   The Government has introduced the Technology Upgratation Fund Scheme (TUFS) for undertaking modernisation, which is not only timely, but also very much needed. What is required is that various provisions of the TUF scheme needs to be modified to meet the requirement of powerloom textile industry.
   
   In Erode district there are 39,212 powerlooms as per census in the year 1999. The major powerloom cluster in the district is at Vellakoil in Kangayam Taluk. Nearly one third of the units are functioning here. The powerloom units in this district are mostly in urorganised sector. Most of them are running the units on job work basis, by production of grey cloth, bedsheets etc. to the master weavers & traders.

Details of Powerloom in Erode District

Source: Asst.Director, Handloom & Textiles, Erode

There are 13 weavers Cooperative Societies functioning in this district. The production particulars of powerloom in this Cooperative sector is given below.

Powerloom Production in Coop. Sector - Erode District

The above particulars are the production of sarees & dhoties, ordered by Government of Tamilnadu for free distribution system.

It is distress to note that the utilisation of funds under TUF scheme in Erode District is almost Nil, though the scheme is in operation from 1st April 1999. Due to the Nil utilisation of funds under TUF and the importance of modernisation in textile industry, SISI, Chennai has organised an one day “Awareness Programme of TUF scheme” at Erode, in association with District Industries Centre, Erode and Erode District SSI Association. Shri Karuthiah Pandian, District Collector, inaugurated the programme. Officers from SISI, DIC, SIDBI, Regional Textile Commissioner’s Office Lead Bank of the District (Canara Bank) and eminent persons from the industry addressed to the participants. 100 persons participated in this programme. Doubts, clarifications raised by the entrepreneurs of textile industries about TUF scheme have been clarified by the AGM, SIDBI & Deputy Director, Office of the Textile Commissioner. At the end of the meeting a questionnaire has been distributed to the participants and their views on TUF scheme has been collected from them. The details of their response are given in the annexure.

Exports of Cotton Powerloom Textiles from India

Exports of cotton powerloom textiles have achieved a growth rate of 2.80% in terms of US dollars and 5.92% in terms of rupees in 1999-2000, as compared to the previous year. The levels of exports in respect of powerloom textiles are given below.

(Figures in Million)

Source : Powerloom Development & Export Promotion Council, Erode.

Entrepreneurs from Erode District are directly and indirectly exporting their powerloom products. The figures of Erode district is not available and hence it is not furnished.

As cotton powerloom textiles have considerable export potential, it is possible to develop export substantially by a wider margin provided adequate measures are taken to remove constraints to provide adequate benefits and facilities for developing exports.

Major markets for cotton textiles (including cotton yarn) are the countries U.S.A., Hongkong, Bangladesh, U.K., Germany, Italy, Korea Republic, Japan, Mauritius, Belgium and U.A.E.

Textile Processing

It is needless to emphasize the importance of processing units in the development of textile sector. Textile processing units are concentrated in the banks of River Cauveri & Bhavani in Erode & Bhavani Taluks. There are 7 modern & mechanised textile processing mills in medium & large scale sector, about 30 semi mechanised processing units and around 1200 numbers of manually processing tiny sector units in this district. These units are engaged in dyeing of yarn, cloth and printing on fabrics. These are providing employment to 18000 persons approximately.

The main problem of the tiny units engaged in dyeing are pollution and effluent disposal problem. Two common effluent treatment plants are yet to function. The concept of CETP is not worked out well in this district due to wide dispersal of units. Hence these units are establishing separate effluent treatment plant on their own. These units are not modernised and using the obsolete machinery. Considering the cost of modernisation, huge investment, the cost of production is high for tiny units due to less volume of business & heavy competition. The dyeing and printing units are working on job order basis for the fabric & garment manufactures. The main products from the printing units are sarees and lungies. Apart from this, Bed spreads, Pillow covers and Printing on Hosiery cloth are also done here.

Readymade Garments

Readymade garments units are developing at faster rate. Readymade garments using woven fabric include a very wide range of ready to wear clothing items like shirts, trousers, frocks, jackets, skirts, sport wears, uniforms etc. Inner garments like petticoats are manufactured here. Most of the units are concentrate in Erode Taluk. About 100 units are engaged in production of shirts, trousers, 25 units are producing uniform and specialised wears ordered by the customers. Approximately 50 units are producing petticoats. Most of the these units are producing for domestic market. Very few only directly and indirectly exporting. Other than these a lot of units are engaged in production of garments on job basis and tailoring units. The opportunities in the local & export markets are not exploited so far. There is a good scope for readymade garments units as this district is having enormous capacity in producing fabrics in powerloom sector.

Edible Oil Mills

Edible oils like Gingelly Oil, Coconut Oil, Groundnut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Refined oil are the one and important among the food products units. There are about 494 edible oil mills are in this district. The main area of concentration for Gingelly Oil units are Erode & Vellokoil. Groundnut oil & Refineries are concentrated in Erode, Perundurai Taluks. Coconut oil units are concentrated in Kangayam Taluk. These units are facing heavy competition from imports, especially cheap imports of Palmoil & Refined palmolein. The imported edible oil are sold at cheaper rates affected the local oil mills. Considering the comparatively higher cost of edible oils like groundnut oil, gingelly oil & coconut oil people prefer the imported oil, which is available at lower rates. The imported oil penetrated the market deeply upto the rural outlets. These created the lower productivity of existing oil mills. Some of the Groundnut oil & Refineries were closed due to the above problem. In Gingelly oil manufacturing units the problems are not that much deeper like Groundnut oil units. However, Gingelly oil units are also suffering due to lower price realised in the market.

Regarding coconut oil manufacturing units there are 150 units concentrated in and around Kangayam. Also 500 kopra processing, drying units are at Kangayam Taluk. These units are also having problems from 1999-2000. Consequent to the partial removal of Quantitative Restrictions (QR), the prices of kopra slashed down upto Rs.20/- per kg due to import of kopra. Government took necessary measures to stop the import of kopra. However there is no improvement in the market. Government intervened in the market and fixed the minimum support price of kopra at Rs.30/- per kg and directly procured from the farmers during 1999-2000. Now the Government is selling the procured kopra which adds another dimension of problem to the kopra producers, who are realising low price. The prices of coconut oil also slashed. The import of Palm oil affected the industries. Traditional consumers like Keralites preferring palm oil to coconut oil to various reasons like price, cholesterol content etc. & industrial users like Vanaspathi manufacturing units, Soap Manufacturing units prefer the cheaper imported oil. All these made coconut oil prices cheaper and the production is in decreasing trend. This leads to lower capacity utilisation and the units are incurring loss.

The entrepreneurs are expecting the Government to take suitable actions to curtail the import for the survival of the existing units. Timely action is necessary to save the edible oil industry. The problem in the edible oil industry directly affects the farmers, who are the suppliers of raw material. If the same trend is continued farmers may shift their cultivation from oil seeds to alternative crops.

Rice Mills

Rice Mills are another important industry among the food products. The mills are concentrated at Kangayam, Kodumudi, Modakurichi, Gobichettipalayam, Uthukuli blocks. There are about 834 Rice mills functioning in the District. Among them about 500 Rice mills are functioning in Kangayam Taluk itself. Though the district is producing Paddy around 311865 tonnes it is not sufficient to feed all the mills. The entrepreneurs are sourcing their raw materials i.e. Paddy from the

neighboring state Karnataka. Though there are some modern rice mills in this district still there is a need for quality improvement. The association felt to improve the quality by employing latest technology, which is available abroad. In the marketing side though they are having a good market set up throughout the state, they are not allowed to sell outside the state, as per Government policy. The units may be allowed to sell their products outside the state, like procuring the raw materials from outside the state. This will help the units to get better price and better profit in the way of increased turnover.

Dairy Products

Erode district is leading in dairy sector. The district is traditionally well known for the dairy products likes milk, curd, butter and ghee. As far as the procurement of milk by the Cooperative sector is concerned it stands 3rd place next to undivided Salem (Salem & Namakkal) district and North Arcot (Vellore & Tiruvannamalai) districts. Erode district cooperative milk producer union is functioning at Chitthode and is procuring the milk from farmers through the Cooperative milk producers societies spread over the district. In private sector Nilgiris Dairy also procuring milk and producing dairy products. Also a lot of small units are engaged in this sector. The production details from the cooperative sector is given below.

MILK PROCUREMENT DETAILS

It is seen from the above table that procurement of milk is steadily increasing year after year. It was 454.3 lakh ltrs during 1996-97 and it was 716.4 lakh liters during 1999-2000, percentage of increase over the year 1996-97 was 57.7%. It is due to the better price offered by the Cooperative sector.

The cooperative sector has 3 milk chilling centres in this district. The details are given below.

Besides these, the cooperative sector is having one milk powder producing unit called Feeder Balancing dairy at Chithode. The installed capacity of the unit is of intake 3 lakh litres per day and the production of Milk Powder 40 Tonnes per day, butter 12 Tonnes per day and Ghee 12 Tonnes per day. It is one of the biggest unit in Southern India with an aim to convert the excess milk into milk products in this region. The details of the Dairy Products pertaining to Erode District in the cooperative sector is given below.

Details of Dairy Products

Apart from this the cooperative sector introduced the products like Dairy Whitener, buttermilk etc during this year. They are having a plan to introduce Rose Milk and Ice Cream in the coming years. The cooperative fold is facing heavy competition from imported milk powder.

SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIES IN ERODE DISTRICT

Erode district is one among the industrialised district in Tamilnadu and it is fifth among the districts in Tamilnadu as far as Small Scale Industries concerned. There are 23918 registered SSI units as on 31.3.2000 in the district. Cotton Textiles industry dominates the district at present. It accounts for 20.60% of the registered SSI units in the district. Next comes to Hosiery & Readymade Garments industry, which is accounting for 17.43% followed by food products with 11.98%

Small Scale Industries are providing large-scale employment next to Agriculture in this district. It have played a vital role in the districts economy by providing large scale employment opportunities at relatively low capital cost, a wide entrepreneurial base, easy dispersal of industries in rural areas and backward areas and concentration of certain industrial groups at specific areas.

The relative position of the district in the state in terms of registered SSI units as on 31.3.2000 is given below.

The district stands first for the highest number of units in

1. Beverages
2. Jute, Hemp & Mesta Textile Products

It stands second in the following sectors.

1. Food Products
2. Cotton Textiles

It stands fourth in

3. Basic Metal Products

Area of Concentration

The following table shows that different type of industries and their area of concentration. It may be seen that food products are concentrated at Erode, Perundurai & Kangayam, beverages are concentrated in all the 3 blocks of Erode Taluk namely, Modakurichi, Erode & Kodumudi. Cotton Textiles and Readymade Garments are concentrate in Erode Taluk. Erode Taluk is also having the maximum number of industries in Leather & Leather Products, Non metallic mineral products apart from Food Products. Next to Erode, Perundurai taluk stands second in Food Products, Cotton Textiles, Chemical & Chemical Products and Transport Equipments.

Concentration of SSI Units in Erode District - as on 31.3.3000

The small scale sector has registered a significant growth during the last 10 years. It has achieved 285% of overall growth. Hosiery & Readymade garments sector has achieved a highest growth of 890% followed by Transport Equipment & Parts by 563%. Wool, Silk & Synthetic fibre industries achieved an impressive growth of 495%, Wood and Wood Products by 373% and Beverages units achieved a growth rate of 367%.

The total number of registered SSI units has increased from 645 in 1990-91 to 23918 in 1999-2000. Almost all the sectors are registered a growth rate of more than 100% except Rubber & Rubber Products which shows the growth of 96%. The period 1990 to 2000 is a milestone in Erode District for the growth of SSI units.

Small Scale Service & Business Enterprises

Like the SSI sector the SSSBE sector has also grown considerably in this district. There are 6165 registered SSSBE units as on 31.3.2000 in this district. Group wise number of units in this segment are given below.

SSSBE Units as on 31.03.2000

DISPERSAL OF SSI UNITS

The notable feature of the SSI sector is its easy dispersal in wide areas including backward areas. In Erode district, the SSI units spread all over the district even though concentration of the units can be seen in some of the places. While Erode Taluk alone having 41.5% share of SSI units, the surrounding taluks Perundurai, Bhavani & Kangayam is having the share of 17.4%, 11.0%, & 10.3% respectively. It can be seen that all of the above four taluks namely, Erode, Perundurai, Bhavani & Kangayam altogether having a share of 80.2% of the total SSI units. The remaining three taluks are having only 19.8%. The blocks like Thalavadi, Bhavani Sagar and Kundadam are having the SSI units less than one percent i.e 0.5%, 0.9%, 0.9% respectively.

INVESTMENT LEVEL & EMPLOYMENT - TALUK LEVEL

The total investment in plant & machinery in the SSI sector in Erode District is Rs.46868.26 lakhs as on 31.3.2000. The average investment in plant & machinery per unit is estimated around 1.96 lakhs. Total employment generated directly by the registered SSI units in this district is 99850 persons, which works out an average of 4 persons, during 1999 - 2000.

Employment Generated & Investment in SSI Sector
As on 31.3.2000 - Taluk Level

From the above table it can be seen that Erode Taluk is leading among other taluks in terms of number of units, investment level and employment. Erode Taluk is having 41.5% of registered SSI units with 32.4% of total investment level and 39.8% of employment in the district. It is due to concentration of cotton textiles & readymade garments units in this taluk and their easy accessibility to the market. Next to Erode, Perundurai Taluk is having 4169 numbers. of registered SSI units with 9461.60 lakhs in investment in plant & machinery and providing employment to 20861 person. Kangayam Taluk is having 2466 units. The average investment in plant & machinery is about 3.3 lakhs per unit which is the highest among the other taluks in the district. In Dharapuram Taluk 1402 SSI units providing employment to 9943 persons at an average of 7 persons per unit which is the highest among other taluks. Sathyamangalam Taluk is having 1098 registered SSI units, which represents 4.6% of the district, is the lowest number of units in the district.

FACTORY SECTOR IN ERODE DISTRICT

There are 1228 registered factories in the district. The following table shows the number of factories in the district, product wise & taluk wise as on 31.12.99

Factory sector in Erode District - Taluk Level

Source : Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories, Erode.

Cotton textiles units are leading in this district followed by Food Products units. While cotton textile units are 457 Nos, food products units are 437 Nos, both are having the share of 37.2%, 35.6% respectively, which shows that these two sectors alone dominating in this district, in factory sector.

Erode Taluk is having 458 No.of units occupies the first place with 37.3% of the total units in the district, followed by Perundurai Taluk with 232 units. Bhavani Taluk is having 74 units, which is the lowest No.of units among all other talukes.

KHADI & VILLAGE INDUSTRIES

Khadi & Village Industries are patronised by the Khadi & Village Industries Board (KVIB) in this district. It is the nodal agency at the local level. KVIB has two offices in this district, one at Erode and another at Dharapuram. It has own production centres in this district. Cotton yarn spinning centres, Polyester yarn spinning centres, Cotton Khadi & Polyester Khadi Weaving Centres, Silk Saress Weaving Centres, Soap manufacturing unit, Leather units and Handmade paper units are functioning under Khadi and Village Industries Board. In addition to that, there are some co-operative societies functioning under KVIB. KVIB have sales outlets to extend marketing assistance to the units functioning under them.

The total production of KVIB items, the volume of sales, employment and earnings are furnished in the following table.

It is evident that the KVIB has committed to promote business and micro industrial ventures in both rural and urban areas.

LARGE SCALE INDUSTRIES

There are 59 Large Scale Industries in this district. Most of the units are cotton textile units. 47 units are textile industries. The following table shows the number of large scale units product wise.

No.of Large Scale Units in Erode District

Among the Large Scale units, the Textile Industry is the traditional one. It is mostly spinning oriented. Out of the 47 units, 36 units are spinning oriented, one unit is a composite unit. 7 units are engaged in Textile processing and two units are coming under knitting activities. The remaining industries are chemical product 4 Nos, Engineering Industries 3 Nos, Sugar mills 2 Nos, Food Products Industry 2 Nos and Paper Products 1 No.

Industrial Cooperative Sector

Various industrial cooperatives are promoted by the Industries department in this district to provide employment and to up-left the economic condition of the poor. At present there are 12 such industrial cooperatives with a total membership of 1609 numbers operating in this district. Persons engaged in particular activities are brought under one roof and registered as cooperative societies by providing share capital loans, procuring machineries, raw materials required for the units and marketing support by the industrial cooperative wing.

Among the 12 Industrial cooperative societies 10 are engaged in production activities such as Engineering, Coir products, Jute products, Textile products, Processing, Printing & Chamber Bricks and 2 are engaged in Auto Transport service sector.

COTTAGE INDUSTRIES

Cottage Industries are providing large scale employment with low cost investment. In Erode District there are 4221 units registered under cottage industries as on 31.10.2000 and they are providing employment to 4725 persons. Among them the major type of industries are given below.

Major Cottage Industries as on 31.10.2000.

Handi Craft Units

Like cottage industries, handi craft units are also providing employment to the rural artisans. In Erode District there are 3527 units providing employment to 3704 person. The major types of activities are furnished in the table.

Major Handicrafts Units As on 31.10.2000

Regd. SSI Units - Block-wise and Product wise as on 31.03. 2000 in Erode District

Table Continues

Table Continues