On SIPCOT and Tamil Nadu industries | Explained

Tata Motors Group breaks ground on new production facility in Tamil Nadu, boosting state's $1 trillion economy goal.

The story so far: On September 28, Tata Motors Group, producer of commercial and passenger vehicles, held the groundbreaking ceremony of its new, world-class production facility to manufacture cars and SUVs, at the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (SIPCOT) industrial park at Panapakkam in Ranipet district, Tamil Nadu. This is Tamil Nadu’s 50th SIPCOT industrial park and the 27th SIPCOT park of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government. The Tamil Nadu government has set a target of becoming a $1 trillion economy by 2030 and SIPCOT will play a crucial role in helping the State reach this goal.

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SIPCOT was established on March 25, 1971 with the objective to plan, develop, operate and promote industrial growth in Tamil Nadu. It was started with a vision to promote medium and large scale industries in Tamil Nadu, as the State was in the nascent stage of its industrial growth with the initial success of the MSME sector. The first industrial park was established in Ranipet in 1973, with the land extent for the first phase here being 729.79 acres. Thirumalai Chemicals Pvt. Ltd (47.25 acres), Ultra Marines & Pigments Ltd. (19.10 acres) and SRP Tools Ltd (13.5 acres) were the initial firms that booked space at the first SIPCOT park.

According to details provided by SIPCOT Managing Director K. Senthil Raj, in the initial years, two industrial parks were established — Ranipet and Hosur, with the former focussing on leather, chemicals and pharma industries while the latter focused on automobiles and the general engineering sector.

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Further information shared by SIPCOT shows that Kanchipuram was developed as an auto and electronics cluster, due to its proximity to the capital Chennai, and because of the presence of companies like Hyundai Motors, Yamaha, Eicher, Renault Nissan, Daimler, Foxconn, Flextronics and Samsung among others. Chengalpattu was developed as an IT cluster due to the presence of IT majors like TCS, CTS, Syntel and Hexaware to name a few and has now emerged as a data centre hub. Additionally, Hosur in Krishnagiri district was developed to have a SIPCOT park to take advantage of the human and intellectual capital of Bangalore. To promote the development of industrially backward districts, Manamadurai, Nilakotai, Pudukottai, Gangaikondan etc were also developed.

Currently, Tamil Nadu has 50 SIPCOT industrial parks. Around 17 more parks will come up in the next one year while many of the existing parks will be expanded. Mr. Senthil Raj stated that the data showed that SIPCOT has been instrumental in the establishment and growth of 3,290 industrial units with a cumulative investment of about ₹1.85 lakh crore over the past 53 years, generating over 8.20 lakh job opportunities.