COIMBATORE accounts for 50 per cent of the Indian market in domestic and agricultural pumps. However, in spite of its vaunted engineering and foundry industries, the city has failed to tap the huge demand that exists for industrial pumps. They are made in Mumbai and Pune.
People from all over the world come to India, especially to Coimbatore, to source domestic and agricultural pumps. But the manufacturers here have not mastered the technique of making industrial pumps for use in nuclear power plants, paper, cement and sugar industries; refineries; dewatering applications; drainage operations; chemical processes, and so on, says V. Krishna Kumar, president of the Mumbai-based Indian Pump Manufacturers Association. He is also general manager of Aquasub Engineering and of Aquapump Industries, Coimbatore. These two companies are the leading manufacturers of domestic pumps for wells, borewell and open well submersibles, agricultural pumps and jet pumps and electric motors.
Competition in the market is fierce for domestic and agricultural pumps, and there is also an unauthorised sector that makes these pumps. There is no limit to the market for industrial pumps. The profit margin is high. And there is no unauthorised sector, Krishna Kumar said.
According to Krishna Kumar, there is a good demand from the Gulf countries, the United States, Germany, France and South Korea for the pumps and components made by Aquasub Engineering and Aquapump Industries. Aquasub Engineering has four manufacturing units that produce 1,100 pumps a day. In rural areas, our brand is a household name, Krishna Kumar said. A new foundry has been set up at Tudiyalur to make castings required in the manufacture of pumps.
Coimbatore is also a leader in the manufacture of gearboxes. But the local industries will soon face competition from three multinationals industries who propose to enter this field. Wherever there is automation, gearboxes are required, says R. Mylsamy, managing director, M.M. Gears Private Limited, Coimbatore, which manufactures different types of gears and gearboxes. Mylsamy and P. Mohanraj, director (technical), founded M.M. Gears in 1995. Gear boxes have a range of applications. M.M. Gears manufactures 500 gearboxes of various kinds every month and it exports gearboxes and machined components to the U.S., Italy and Saudi Arabia. We are in expansion mode now. We want to become a public limited company in another three years. We want to cater to the market in high-precision gears, Mylsamy said.
Another area where Coimbatore has made a name for itself is in the manufacture of motors. Stark Motors at Kalappatti manufactures electric motors in the brand name of Monark.
C. Muthusami, its managing partner and chief executive officer, said his company manufactured 1,200 motors of various types every month. These motors find applications in the textile and engineering industry, offset printing machinery, and cranes. The company manufactures vibrator motors, which are used at construction sites.
T.S. SubramanianCOMMents
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