The Coimbatore district has segments like textile, auto ancillary, hospitality, IT and polutry. The textile industry has already grown but the growth would be exponential in the coming years with the textile outsourcing boom starting. Already Coimbatore textile industry is worth 1 billion USD. It also enjoys a good hold in engineering sectors because of the trust in the infrastructure it would have a solid growth in the coming years. The future big bets are in IT and hospitality (Health due to super specialty hospitals) and in south India no other tier 2 city has that potential. Apart from this Coimbatore district has the biggest poultry industry and very soon this segment might catch up in the big way since retail industry is getting organized and also because of its export potential. This time political scenario is also looking good because of the state – central government combination. The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) seems to be marketing Coimbatore. Also in Coimbatore TAJ, GTR and Meridian are planning for star hotels, which again reflect the state of economy.
But Government has stopped loans under TUF (Technology Upgradation Fund) for textiles industry, which was giving 5% subsidy on interest rates. This would impact the Textiles industry which was planning for expansion as CAPEX would be impacted. This could have an impact on Coimbatore. Also some of the recent real-estate magazine reports show that the Bangalore real estate is undergoing correction and saturation. This is not the case with Chennai and Coimbatore. In Chennai IT corridor has sanctioned 80 companies and looks like Chennai is catching up the way Bangalore was three years ago.
Recent web links for reference:
http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/21/stories/2006072110990100.htm
http://www.indiantelevision.com/interviews/y2k6/executive/atul_g.htm
