Roots Group, Coimbatore is one of the earliest to enter the electronic vehicle segment in India. Roots has set up a subsidiary in the US to produce mechanised cleaning equipment. A Masters Degree holder from Lincoln Technical Institute, USA. K Ramasamy, Chairman spoke to IE on his vision and mission. Excerpts from the interview:
INDUSTRIAL ECONOMIST: About your companies…
K RAMASAMY (KR): The Roots Group of companies , Coimbatore is engaged in the manufacture of automobile horns, high precision engineering components, mechanised cleaning equipment, medical and aerospace components, tools and dies, ergonomic furniture and electric vehicles.
We export our products to countries in Europe, United States of America, Malaysia, Singapore, Middle East, Australia, Japan…
IE: Financial highlights…
KR: The group has achieved a total turnover of Rs.700 crore during 2017-18 registering a growth of 14 per cent over the previous year. Exports accounted for Rs.160 crore. For 2017-18, we had a net foreign exchange earning of Rs.117 crore.
During the nine months ended 31 December 2018, Roots Group had a total turnover of Rs.600 crore, a 17 per cent growth .
IE: Your investments and future plans…
KR: Total investments made by Roots group of companies on various assets like land and buildings, plant and
machinery stand at around Rs.350 crore as on 31 December 2018. A minimum capex of Rs.100 crore is to be spent in the next two years on the expansion of the existing industrial units.
The Group has entered into electric vehicle (EV) segment.
The Group has established a wholly-owned subsidiary in the US to manufacture mechanised cleaning equipment and sweepers .
IE: CSR activities…
KR: The key focus areas are environment, health and hygiene and education.
IE: Your impressions on the government’s thrust in attracting investments and your suggestions for refining these…
KR: Tamil Nadu is the destination of choice because of the rapidly growing infrastructure, work pool with the necessary knowledge, uninterrupted power supply and a government, ready to listen to the problems of the industry providing prompt solutions.
I would suggest a couple of measures to further ease the process of establishing industrial units:
One, whatever queries are raised and documents called for in the portal, if appropriately answered and all the documents submitted as per the requirements, further clarifications or documents should not be raised.
Two, if land classifications are also undertaken by the single window process, it will greatly help entrepreneurs and bring down dramatically the time to establish a new project. SV
