Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Saudi Arabia seeks help to set up pump cluster



President of the Coimbatore Industrial Infrastructure Association C.R. Swaminathan (second left) speaking at a meeting on the opportunities in Saudi Arabia for pump manufacturers, in Coimbatore on Tuesday.

Delegates from Saudi Arabia visited Coimbatore Industrial Infrastructure Association (COINDIA) here on Tuesday to explore the possibility of establishing a pump cluster in their country.

Abdullah Albulaihed, Technology Development Manager, and Ahmed Alofi, Business Development Manager, of the Cluster Project, Saudi Arabia, said the country's largest company ARAMCO alone imported 93 per cent of its pump requirements, worth around Rs. 720 crore.

The entire import of pumps by the country was estimated to be around Rs. 1,000 crore.

At present the country was meeting only 30 per cent of its other requirements like electrical equipment, heat transfer equipment, and chemicals with domestic goods and imported the rest. The Government wanted to reverse the trend and establish industries to prevent the outflow of capital.

In that regard the Government was looking at establishing factories to meet its domestic demands and the decision to set up a pump manufacturing cluster was part of that.

The establishment of factories was also to provide employment opportunities. Saudi Arabia had 70 per cent of its 40 million population below 30 years and expected that to double by 2020. By bringing in industries and clusters the Government could take care of employment needs as well.

In their discussion with COINDIA president C.R. Swaminathan, vice-president N. Visvanathan and representatives from Deccan pumps, Texmo Industries, C.R.I. pumps, Mahindra pumps, Suguna pumps, the delegates said the Saudi Arabian Government was ready to provide all possible help to the pump industries in the event of their setting up shop there.

The Saudi Arabian Government would provide two million square metres for industrial purpose and $ 10 million for development and offtake marketing agreements. They would also offer a low cost and high technology platform.

The country looked forward to building a cluster with international standards and also becoming a global player.

In his address, Mr. Swaminathan said COINDIA had brought together 600 foundries, 800 pump units and others to provide a common platform to improve manufacturing process.

G. Rajendran, Founder-president, COINDIA, said the cluster was the best in India and was one of the earliest to be sanctioned by the Union Government.

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