Interview India: Tooling it the Indian Way

In an interview with the President of Tagma India and Managing Director of Vasantha Tools, Dayanand Reddy, he elaborates on the challenges and future prospects of this burgeoning industry.

What is the current market scenario of the tool room industry in India?

Dayanand Reddy: After the Modi Government came into power, the general sentiment in the market has been quite optimistic. Today, the emerging economies are not performing well; however, the Indian economy is still looking positive. Our economy is strong as our internal demand is healthy, which leads to an increase in consumption and derives growth. If we speak about the automotive industry, numerous international automotive companies are establishing their manufacturing bases in India in order to develop automobiles for their global audiences. This move has led to an increase in demand for the tooling industry in the country; however, I do not believe that we are equipped to meet the growing technological demands of the customers.

In this case, how can the technological gap be reduced? What are the measures/initiatives undertaken by Tagma India to address this challenge?

As an association, Tagma India has been undertaking various activities, specifically, in the past two years to address this, such as conducting road shows in vital cities, namely Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Coimbatore. Players from the buying as well as the customer segment are encouraged to speak on their latest technologies in these road shows to impart knowledge to other industry players. Through these initiatives, we are aiming to bring industry players together on a common platform so that they can compliment and support each other. This will prove beneficial for the tool room industry to achieve a quantum leap regarding their business activities.

Apart from this, the association is planning to establish its own centre – Tagma Centre of Excellence Training (TCET) – in Chakan, Pune. The centre proposes to house all key facilities for tool manufacturing; the main focus would be on those activities and services, which are not available with the small and medium units such as tool trial and validation, calibration set up, skills upgradation, etc. In addition to the tooling industry, the centre will serve towards the development of all the manufacturing clusters. The ground breaking ceremony was scheduled to take place on April 22, 2016, following which construction of the center began. The objective behind setting up this centre is to serve the local SMEs who cannot afford expensive machines so that they can increase their capacities and capabilities.

Is the government supporting you in this project?

Yes, Tagma India has positioned the project for financial assistance from the Department of Heavy Industry, Government of India under the ‘Scheme for Enhancement of Competitiveness of Capital Goods Sector’. The total project cost is estimated to be around 519.10 mn INR including land and building, equipment, infrastructure and other related components. A grant to the extent of 80 per cent of plant and machinery, i.e., 262.70 INR is sought from the Government of India under the scheme and the balance of 256.90 mn crore will be brought in by the promoter as equity and term loan. We have approached the commercial bank Sidbi for 160 mn INR and the remaining amount of 96.90 mn INR has to be provided by Tagma India and the local industry. The project will be implemented within a year. The Centre of Excellence and training at Chakan, Pune is proposed as a pilot project and the promoters will replicate the model at three other locations across India.

What is the reason most industry players import tools?

Industry players do not want to import their tools as the process includes travelling, which is not a cost effective option for them. Also, after the trial tool is delivered to the customers, it has to be approved from them, which takes about a month to be finalized. This process is time consuming. However, they are not left with any option as Indian tool rooms fail to provide the necessary facilities here.

(ID:44046890)