Pankaj Kumar Bansal, CMD, TIDCO
In the 1960s, in an investment shy southern environment, TIDCO was set-up to encourage entrepreneurs to think big by liberal support of equity and guidance for modern and large projects. Titan Industry, SPIC, TPL are some of the iconic projects established in quick time.
Through the decades the role of TIDCO has been expanding manifold. Hear CMD P K Bansal expIaining the contributions of TIDCO:
I came to Tamil Nadu in 1997 and I felt I was in a totally different world. There was
electricity and piped water in all villages. It was a stark difference from my village in UP. Now 25 years later, Tamil Nadu has been recording unimaginable growth. Things are happening at a fast pace.
In line with the changing times, TIDCO has been proactive and has taken several measures. We are working in agriculture, infrastructure, industry… and have more than 100 JVs. In all these JVs, we remain silent and allow the private partner to be recognised. Like in TITAN, TRIL, Ascendas, TIDEL Park…
Two decades ago, TIDEL Park was the starting point of the IT revolution in the state. To carry forward this growth to the Tier 2 and 3 cities, new TIDEL Parks have been planned in Salem, Tuticorin, Villupuram and Thanjavur.
To facilitate industry 4.0, TIDCO is setting up Centres of Excellence along with Siemens, Dassault Systèmes and GE at costs of Rs 200 crore each. These would become functional in another 3-4 months. Common Facility Centre (CFC) has been set up at Tiruchi along with the Tiruchirapalli Engineering and Technology Cluster (TREAT). This heavy engineering common facility has several high value equipment which can be accessed by MSMEs. Using the equipment, a MSME unit is enabled to compete in the market; this was otherwise unaffordable by it. A similar initiative is being taken for the foundry industry in Coimbatore. Tatas have also given a proposal of around Rs 400 crore to set up a CFC for the aero and defence sectors. This will help in bringing the latest equipment, latest software and latest ecosystem so that everything can be done in one place.
Similarly, to facilitate start-ups, TIDCO has got a recent approval to set up a venture capital fund of around Rs 500 crore.
To reduce the cost for sunrise industries and as well to attract them, TIDCO has planned projects in the area of aviation, defence and logistics. A state logistics policy will be released in another 3-6 months. Plethora of agencies and departments from both the Centre and state government have collaborated to develop an integrated infrastructure with multi-modal access. In these multi-modal integration parks, TIDCO is working with NHAI, ports, railways… All of them are taken on board to facilitate smooth solutions for meeting challenges.
TIDCO is also closely working for the second green airport for Chennai. An airport in Hosur is also on the cards and there is a plan to look into making the existing airports vibrant with more revenues.
Things are happening fast and at the highest level and there is a commitment from the government to take the state forward. For building a trillion-dollar economy, industry, bureaucrats and government need to become champions of change.
