One of the key focus areas of the Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA) has been the development of supporting infrastructure for the speedy growth of exports and the overall development of the city. Listed here are some of the major initiatives taken by TEA towards realisation of this objective:
Tirupur Export Knitwear Industrial Complex (TEKIC): The complex has been set up on a sprawling 100 acres site, about eight km from Tirupur, to relieve congestion within the city and facilitate expansion of production capabilities. This is the first industrial complex promoted by a private enterprise, consisting 189 industrial sheds with full-fledged infrastructural facilities such as power, water, roads, rain water drainage, sewerage, security post, and telecommunication. Investment in this complex has crossed the Rs. 200-crore level and annual production is estimated at Rs. 800 crores.
Inland Container Depot (ICD): In order to ensure efficient handling of cargo movement from Tirupur to gateway ports, TEA, jointly with LEMUR, has established a container freight station in Tirupur. In the absence of efficient cargo movement facilities, exporters often missed sailings and were put to heavy financial loss. In order to overcome this problem, TEA, jointly with LEE and Mulrhead Ltd., a reputed cleaning, forwarding and shipping agents, has established a container freight station in Tirupur.
TEA LEMUR Container Terminals Private Ltd., about 10 km from Tirupur, arranges loading and unloading of export and import cargo in Tirupur itself. Local exporters are now completing customs formalities in Tirupur and sending goods in containers directly for shipment through all southern ports and Mumbai.
TEA Public School: TEA felt that it was its social objective to promote a trust called the Tirupur Educational and Cultural Academy with trust members mostly drawn from TEA and from the general public. Under its auspices, a residential co-educational school called the TEA Public School was started to meet the growing need for a first-rate institution which would groom young men and women into professional and business leaders of tomorrow. The school was inaugurated on June 25, 1995.
Situated in a sprawling campus of 25 acres amidst picturesque surroundings on the Tirupur-Avinashi Road, 10 km from Tirupur and 3 km from Avinashi, the school has well-equipped laboratories, a computer lab, and a well-stocked library. Future Schools – U.S.A. Digital Learning programme computer education is a part of the curriculum from standard I upwards.
New Tirupur Development Corporation (NTADCL): This is a public limited company promoted by TEA jointly with the State and Central Governments and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd. (IL&FS), Mumbai, to supply water from Cauvery river, about 55 km from Tirupur, for industrial and domestic use not only by the people of Tirupur, but also those in more than 30 villages covered by the pipeline. The massive project, executed at a cost of Rs. 1,150 crores, also envisages underground sewerage system for Tirupur, and collection, treatment and disposal of sewerage and solid waste.
TEA teamed up with the Dyers Association of Tirupur and collected Rs. 10.00 crores towards equity contribution of the industry, and handed it over to the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu at its inaugural function in Tirupur in June 2003. This project, an outstanding example of Public Private Partnership on a massive scale funded by leading international financial institutions like US AID, is the first of its kind in the whole of Asia.
Tirupur has not felt scarcity of water ever since the project was executed. It is indeed a boon not only for the people of Tirupur but for all the villagers close by. Uninterrupted water supply has served almost every sector – right from the processing industry to a small household in the village.
NIFT – TEA Knitwear Fashion Institute: TEA, under the leadership of Dr. A. Sakthivel, realised the need for an exclusive training institute related to the garment industry. This led to the founding of an institution under the name and style of NIFT – TEA Knitwear Fashion Institute.
Initially, it was started in a shed at TEKIC funded by ICICI and the Union Ministry of Industry. Dr. Sakthivel made special efforts to avail a loan without any security from ICICI and, after a few years, with the contribution of the beloved members of TEA, a dedicated land was purchased for the institution. A lot of initial hurdles were successfully overcome, and now the institution is known for its state-of-the-art facilities in terms of machinery and equipment, including CAD, and offers testing, training and designing services to the industry. The Bachelor Degree programs offered are Apparel Fashion Design, Fashion Apparel Management, Garment Production and Chemical Processing, and Apparel Manufacturing and Merchandising. The institute also offers Master Degree in Apparel Business and Apparel Production. The college is affiliated to Bharathiar University, Coimbatore.
India Knit Fair (IKF): As exports started picking up, there was always a lack of a common exhibition center which would allow foreign buyers to meet all the exporters in one place. Dr. Sakthivel and his team took the initiative to organize a buyer/seller meet for this very purpose. Initially, it was organized at a higher secondary school where the classrooms were used as exhibition stalls. This was shifted later to the TEA school ground. Fairs were conducted successfully with the available resources. Soon thereafter, TEA and AEPC constructed a trade fair complex of international standard about 12 km from Tirupur, providing easy and fast access from Coimbatore airport to buyers visiting the fair. So far, 40 knitwear fairs have been conducted in Tirupur.
The substantial increase in exports of autumn/winter wear from Tirupur is mainly attributed to these fairs. Now India Knit Fairs, both summer and autumn/winter, are well known globally, and buyers from all over the world look forward to these fairs with keen interest.
A convention center constructed in the IKF complex for conducting programs, meetings, etc., was unveiled in May 2007.
Netaji Apparel Park: It was always the dream of Dr. Sakthivel that Tirupur should have its own world-class production facility where knitwear manufacturers could readily set shop and start operation immediately. This dream came true with the establishment of the ‘Netaji Apparel Park’, the foundation for which was laid in July 2003. The park, a first of its kind in India, has come up on a 166-acre site located strategically on NH47, with 52 knitwear units.
The park, inaugurated by the then Union Minister of Finance, Mr. P. Chidambaram, has state-of-the-art machinery and infrastructure set up with an investment of Rs. 300 crores. It provides direct employment to more than 15,000 workers and its contribution to the knitwear export turnover of Tirupur is about Rs. 1,500 crores per annum.
TEA E-Readiness Centre: TEA has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. to set up an e-readiness centre to offer e-readiness programmes and e-learning modules and enhance solutions delivery capability for local system integrators, resellers and independent solution providers.
Microsoft will develop a Tirupur Cluster Portal which will have a public interface platform and will also provide an online platform to facilitate collaborative exchange for addressing issues such as regulatory compliances, environment issues, quality & certification procedures, project management and textile design development, among others.
TEA – St. John Logistics Pvt. Ltd.: TEA and St. John Freight Systems Ltd. formed a 50:50 joint venture company – TEA – St. John Logistics Pvt. Ltd. – in February 2006. With its registered office in Tirupur and administrative office in Tuticorin, it will float a subsidiary company in Antwerp, Belgium, shortly for warehousing and distribution of garments in Europe. The JV company aims to be a one-stop solution for end-to-end service with focus on supply chain for garment distribution at Antwerp.
The JV objective is to provide seamless supply chain solutions in Europe for Tirupur sellers and European buyers. It is also planning to act as a trading house with exceptional logistics back-up advantages, which will add tremendous value to relations with the existing buyers and also help forge new partnerships.
St. John Freight Systems has tied up with a major warehouse operator in Antwerp for warehousing, distribution and outsourcing transportation locally.