T M Anbarasan, the minister in charge of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Department, announced in the Assembly on Thursday that multi-storeyed plug-and-play industrial space for MSMEs would be built in Chennai, Hosur, and Madurai at a cost of Rs 223.88 crore.
There will be 2.83 lakh square feet of ready-built space constructed, which can provide 3,150 people with jobs. Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation and Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation Limited will build these facilities (TANSIDCO).
TANSIDCO would build five new industrial estates in the districts of Kothakottai in Pudukottai, Mullikolathur in Chengalpet, Muthoor in Tirunelveli, Vaiyavoor in Kancheepuram, and Ayankollankondan in Virudhunagar. These estates for MSMEs would be built on 185 acres for a cost of ‘108 crore. can provide work for almost 7,000 individuals. Anbarasan also mentioned the appointment of dedicated loan facilitation officers at all district industries centres to assist members of the SC/ST communities and people with disabilities in connecting with banks to obtain loans. The programme for providing a 25% capital subsidy will be expanded to cover certain power loom retrofits to make them more automatic as well as the installation of equipment for reducing pollution and drying in the coir industry.
In the meantime, the microcluster initiative would spend 36 crore to build 11 additional microclusters. There is a concentration of arecanut goods in Coimbatore, a concentration of pottery and honey processing in Vellore, a concentration of wood carving in Madurai and Kallakurichi, a concentration of coffee powder processing in Dindigul, and a concentration of artificial silk. Theni district has a garment cluster, Tenkasi district has an embroidery cluster, Dharmapuri district has a power loom cluster, and Sivagangai district has a palm leaf cluster and a women’s clothing cluster.
Anbarasan added that the maximum grant under the initiative to create jobs for unemployed youngsters has raised from Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 3.75 lakh per beneficiary. This would encourage more micro-industry groups to step forward and create private industrial estates by lowering the minimum land area required to get a 50% subsidy for private industrial estates from 50 acres to 10 acres.
