Tamil Nadu in the running for Rs 4,000 crore furniture hub – Times of India

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu is one of the three states in the running for a Rs 4,000 crore furniture hub to be set up by the central and state governments and the private sector.
At the anniversary of the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry, M&M MD Pawan Goenka, who heads the steering committee for advancing local value addition, said: “The furniture hub will be a one-stop-shop for plug and play for large furniture companies including everything from manufacturing facilities to dormitories for outstation labour and Tamil Nadu is one of the states being considered for this.”
Tamil Nadu industries secretary N Muruganandan confirmed that the state was in discussions for the project. “We have had some meetings and have suggested Tuticorin as an option because it has land close to and inside the port, which was one of the requirements for this project,” he said. The Tuticorin land parcel will also offer a cost benefit. “The Tamil Nadu government gives a 50% discount on land price in that region,” said Muruganandan. “Besides wood import is already happening from the port so skilled labour is also available.”
“Currently India does not have any plug and play infrastructure for large scale manufacturing like say Vietnam has,” said Goenka. “Unless we have that, we will not be able to attract the business that is dislocating from China due to global geo-political changes.”
Furniture is one of the manufacturing areas under focus as part of the local value addition move to select sectors for manufacturing growth. Right now there are almost no furniture export even though big MNCs like Ikea have set up shop in India to tap the domestic demand, said Goenka. Tamil Nadu is the third largest state in terms of manufacturing value add –reason why M&M has its R&D centre for both passenger vehicles and tractors in Tamil Nadu, said Goenka.