EVEN THE major property consultants in Chennai are extremely
upbeat about the potential of Coimbatore and its growth prospects.
N.Ananthanarayanan, Associate Director, Trammel Crow Meghraj
Property Consultants, a national level company involved in construction
industry, points out that Coimbatore has been touted as one of
the most liveable cities in the country.
It has a pleasant climate and is surrounded by the Western Ghats.
The people have entrepreneurial skills and technical pool is
locally available with the presence of quality institutions.
He is quite sanguine that the IT boom in Chennai will have extremely
beneficial effect on Coimbatore.
He speaks of the vast reservoir of talent, congenial climate,
conducive atmosphere and how Coimbatore stands to gain in the
times of globalisation.
At the same time, he pleads for a better infrastructure to receive
all the benefits.
According to him, Chennai is all set to have 50 million sq ft
of IT space by 2010.
Then, he envisages, it will have eight to 10 malls with 6 million
sq ft of retail developments and 10 to 15 townships with approximately
2,500 to 6,000 dwelling units each spread on 20 to 150 acres.
IT space
The supply of IT space in Coimbatore will be in the range of
7 million sq ft to 8 million sq ft by 2010 based on the growth
of other IT/ITES-BPO units in the region and their export potential.
The retail developments in Coimbatore will have 1.5 million sq
ft by then.
There are malls proposed in other tier II towns of Tamil Nadu
(apart from Coimbatore) in Tirupur, Tiruchi, Salem and Madurai.
Housing demand is not matching with the supply and the IT workforce
will create huge demand in residential and also in other sector
developments such as retail and entertainment and hospitality.
Various Surveys indicate Coimbatore has been ranked among top
10 cities for doing business.
Explaining why, he points out that Coimbatore is strategically
located and easily accessible from Chennai, Bangalore and Kochi
by 8 hours, 6 hours and 5 hours by road.
Resources
Coimbatore is a resource rich city and has the capacity to fulfil
talent requirements of IT & ITES organisations. Annually 20,154
engineers graduate from Coimbatore universities and 28,823 from
non-engineering backgrounds (graduates of arts, science and commerce)
from the institutions of Coimbatore.
Traditionally, Coimbatore has a strong industrial base predominantly
in the automotive components, textiles, and pump sets businesses.
The trade in Coimbatore accounts for a total annual turnover
of Rs. 16,000 crores.
Coimbatore has a thriving market in automotive components. More
than 60 per cent of the households has the annual household expenditure
of Rs. 25,000 to one lakh compared to Chennai's 66 per cent. Of
the total households, about 45 per cent have the spending capacity
of Rs 25,000 to 50,000 compared to Chennai's 39 per cent.
Looking at the growth dynamics of Coimbatore, its inherent strength
has always been textile industries.
It has seen slumps some years ago; but because of globalisation
it has staged a come back along with the pumps and foundry industries.
He laments that Coimbatore is starving for a quality integrated
residential township with all amenities catering to its residents.
The success of Srivatsa Garden on Mettupalayam Road prompted the
other local developers to go in for large-scale development, especially
along Mettupalayam Road and Sathy Road. Avanashi Road is mostly
developing as a commercial hub along with its presence of industries
and educational institutions.
An 18-hole golf course spread on 150 acres off Pollachi road
and clubs like Jennys on Avanashi road will be the destination.
Still the local citizens have to explore such facilities.
Operational IT companies
Tata Tele Services is already operating in the Tex City Park
off Avinashi Road. Wipro is likely to enter the city in the coming
months and Robert Bosch is to invest for an R&D Park in the
proposed KG IT Park.
Potential
Entry of CTS, Spheris, Tata Teleservices,etc., has increased
the potential in the IT industry.
Further, about 180 Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in Coimbatore
will now be linked to a global network of prospective customers
by the Asian Sourcing Network (ASN), which is jointly set up by
TCS, A.T.Kearney Procurement Solutions, a global sourcing services
firm and UGS Corp., a global provider of product lifecycle management
(PLM) software and services.
Office space
The total existing supply of office space (Grade A and Grade
B) in the city is about 5 million sq ft of which Grade A constitutes
around 3 million sq ft.
Of this, IT companies such as CTS, Spheris, Healthscribe, KG
TESCO, SPI, TCS, and Tata Teleservices occupied around one million
sq ft in and around the Coimbatore. Occupancy level in the city
hotels is 70 per cent to 80 per cent.
Engineering major Larsen & Toubro, in its proposed manufacturing
facility in Coimbatore (which will start its operations by June
2007), is to invest Rs. 500 crore over a five-year period. It
would set up a knowledge-based campus consisting engineering and
manufacturing facilities for its various strategic business units.
The unit will offer direct employment to 1,200 people, mostly
engineers, and indirect employment to another 5,000 people.
The facility spread over 300 acres at Malumichampatti will house
four factories for manufacturing petrol dispensing pumps, electrical
system and equipment, precision engineering and tools and valves.
Besides, 27 acres that belonged to the Coimbatore Medical College
has been assigned to the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu
for promoting an IT/ITES SEZ.
The project will get kickstart once the access to the IT Park
is made from Avanashi Road.
Likely entry of Wipro and Satyam will definitely enthuse the
IT companies to enter Coimbatore.
The Salzar group, in association with Global Technical Talent
(GTT) Inc, a U.S.-based IT consulting service provider, is planning
to develop one lakh sq ft of IT Park. Out of this, 25,000 sq ft
will be for own use and the rest will be leased out.
Retail market trends
The main traditional retail areas of Coimbatore are Crosscut
Road, Oppanakara Street, Raja Street, 100 Feet Road, Dr. Nanjappa
Road, D.B. Road, Thiruvenkata Swámi Road, Avanashi Road,
NSR Road, Tiruchi Road and Mettupalayam Road and they have become
the emerging retail areas to cater to the spending population
of Coimbatore.
There are three malls proposed on Avanashi Road and a water theme
park.
These are expected to be ready in 2007-2008 and will definitely
attract the youth and college crowd along with IT people.
Maharaja Water Theme Park is being developed on 15 acres which
will have a miniature golf course, multiplex and a man made hillock,
food court and conference facilities. It is set to open this year.
Residential developments
Interestingly, Sahara City has earmarked 125 acres on Sathy road
near Saravanampatti, which will set an example for others to follow.
Many developers from Chennai, Bangalore and North India are coming
to Coimbatore for the development of townships, hotels, malls
and multiplexes. They include Jains, the Zee group and also the
Kshitij Funds.
Major construction activity is visible in areas like Vadavalli,
Kovaipudur, Peelamedu, Kaudampalayam and Trichy road.
While the suburbs are witnessing residential property development,
a few commercial developments are visible at prime locations in
the city.
"The investment which is attracting Coimbatore will be of
mostly end user driven and not speculative at all", he asserts.
The CII is looking at the possibility of exploring the demand
for development of a Special Export Zone in this region and the
proposal to do a feasibility study for upgrading the Coimbatore
Airport are the welcome steps for an organised growth of Coimbatore.
