Zoho To Set Up A New Company To Help Manufacturing Sector In Kongu Region With R&D To Gain Critical Know-how

Zoho, a Chennai-based global technology company, is setting up a consortium to invest in research and development to help manufacturing sector in Kongu region of Tamil Nadu to gain critical knowhow.

There is a need to bring in import substitution and develop high-end technology at the regional level for the benefit of the manufacturing sector, Zoho Co-founder and CEO, Sridhar Vembu told reporters recently in Chennai.

Stating that the capital goods manufacturing sector, like textile, motor and pumps, battery for electric vehicles and machine tools, was importing machines and technology, Sridhar said that Zoho will form a company and invest Rs 50 to 100 crore, with a matching investment from local industries in eight sectors.

By developing the critical know-how and import substitution for all the industries, not only the region, eight western Tamil Nadu districts, will become high wage economy but also the entire state, he claimed.

The company would be set up in another three months and start R & D work by setting up a laboratory and identify the problem being faced by the industries, so that research work can be started, he said.

Sridhar Vembu has been meeting several local industrialists, entrepreneurs, and business associations hailing from the districts Karur, Erode, Salem, Tiruppur and Coimbatore. During his visit, he strongly insisted on the need to invest in R&D projects to improve technical knowledge and the region’s economic base.

Coimbatore and its surrounding districts, located in the western parts of Tamil Nadu, are known for their entrepreneurship and have distinguished themselves in multiple SME sectors ranging from Engineering machinery, Electric Pumps, Textiles, Trucking, Poultry, Sabudana production etc. This directly contributes almost 40% to the state’s GDP and is estimated to be around USD 140 Billion.

Unlike Tier–II economic clusters like NCR region, Pune etc. which leverage their physical proximity to the country’s biggest economic and political hubs like Delhi and Mumbai respectively, Tamil Nadu’s western districts practically grew its economy on its own.

(With Inputs from PTI)

Also Read: Farms To Factories: How Coimbatore’s Economy Was Transformed By Entrepreneurship