The prime focus of India’s second Five Year Plan (1956-1961) was a big push to the economy through rapid industrialisation. This was when the spadework was done for establishing an industrial estate in Tamil Nadu. The efforts led to the establishment of the Guindy Industrial Estate, Chennai. This was one of the first industrial estates to be opened in India, along with the Okhla Industrial Estate in New Delhi in 1958.
“The government proposed to open the estate in Kodambakkam, but as the City Improvement Trust wanted the site for housing and since the government found the Guindy site more suitable for the purpose they had in view, they decided on the change of location,” said a report published in The Hindu dated October 9, 1955. The report further said, “The government have decided to acquire lands in Guindy opposite to the railway station for locating the proposed Rs. 60-lakh industrial estate. The estate, according to the scheme, will provide necessary factory space and facilities to small producers by way of power, water supply, housing and common industrial aids for production, on rent or lease.”
Raw materials at cost price
Another article published in 1956 mentioned, “In the Guindy estate, it is proposed to undertake purchase of raw materials in bulk and distribute them at cost price to the small units to be housed there. It is also proposed to set up, in a plot of 30 acres adjoining the estate, service centres for the manufacture of surgical instruments, scientific glass apparatus, laboratory equipment, apparatus, goods, hand tools and electrical goods. Facilities will be available at the centres to test the products of industries and to undertake certain operations requiring costly machinery. The Chemical Testing and Analytical Laboratory of the Industries Department will also be shifted to that place.”
The total estimated cost of the estate was ₹70.03 lakh, and the sum was given by the Union government as a loan repayable in 20 years.
The first phase of the Guindy Industrial Estate was inaugurated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1958. The next phase was inaugurated by Union Minister for Industry Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1959. R. Venkatraman, State Minister in charge of Industries, Transport, Power and Labour, along with T. K. Palaniappan, Director of Industries and Commerce, and V.S. Raghavan, Joint Director of Industries and Commerce, played a key role in the project.
While inaugurating the industrial estate, Nehru had emphasised the important place of small industries in the economy and in the plans for development and said industrial estates were of immense help in providing modern techniques to those running small industries.
C. Subramaniam, the then State Finance Minister, said that this was the first estate that the government was opening and hoped it would soon prove to be the nerve centre of other activities which might grow not only in the city but throughout the State.
“Guindy was chosen because of the availability of land and it was on the fringes of Chennai city then. It was also connected with roadways, airways, and train transport, something that was favourable to small-scale industrial units moving their goods from one place to another,” says V.K. Girish Pandian, president of the Industrial Estate Manufacturers’ Association (IEMA).
Some of the first units to come up at this industrial estate included Standard Pencil Factory, opened by K. Parthasarathy, Eveready Industries India (P) Ltd., Bi-metalic & Bushings, opened by V.S. Narasimhan. “Hivelm Industries Ltd., started by A.N. Srinivasa Rao, who was the founder of Solidaire TV, was born at the Guindy Industrial Estate,” Mr. Girish Pandian points out.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the industrial estate housed several units that focused on general engineering, forging, gears, fabrications, electronics, and mouldings. In 1962, the Prime Minister of Malaya paid a visit to the industrial estate and said he had been greatly impressed with what he had been able to see at the estate in regard to the progress of industries in this part of the country.
Maintenance transferred
Former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi created Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation Limited (TANSIDCO) in 1971. Maintenance of the industrial estates was transferred to TANSIDCO in 1976.
The 404-acre estate, inaugurated in phases, housed 268 work-sheds, 162 developed plots, 140 tiny-sheds, 120 electronic complexes, and 64 multi-storey industrial complexes. Later, in the 1990s, many garment companies started operating from this industrial estate. Companies, like AVT Leather, Tata Leather, and Coromandel Leathers, were all functioning from here. “Even now, there are companies at our estate which are supplying to international brands like Clarks, Timberland, Salvatore Ferragamo, and Gucci,” Mr. Girish Pandian says.
First IT building
When the information and technology sector was booming in India, it did not spare the industrial estate. In 2001, the first information and technology building, called Hallmark Towers, started functioning at the estate. Today, the estate houses some of the prominent information and technology companies. Many start-ups have also picked up space here.
“The Guindy estate hosts some of the well-known international brands like HP, Verizon, Samsung, SKF India, Ashok Leyland, Virtusa, and Redington India,” Mr. Girish Pandian says.
Many units moved out to other parts of Chennai. “Owing to the restrictions on the movement of lorries at the estate, as it is within the city limits now, many units have migrated from here to other industrial estates like Thirumudivakkam, Thirumazhisai, and Kakkalur,” he explains. According to him, going forward, information technology companies will co-exist with the traditional small and medium units at the industrial estate.
A retired IAS officer, who has served in the Department of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, says such industrial estates are historic and should be preserved and maintained well.
