Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor

The Union Budget has given a new lease of life to the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor project, which has remained on paper for three years. The corridor, which is to come up along Chennai, Sriperumbudur, Ranipet, Bargur, Hosur and Bangalore, is expected to boost commerce between south India and east Asia by enabling quicker movement of goods from these places to the Chennai and Ennore ports.

In his Budget speech, finance minister P Chidambaram said the project with assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will be developed in collaboration with the governments of three southern states.

JICA and the Indian government’s department of industrial policy and promotion are preparing a plan for the industrial corridor. While the existing road connecting the two cities is 350 km, there is a proposal to cut the distance by 100 km with new roads.

More than 30% of the Japanese business base in India is located in south India. The southern region accounts for more than 50% of India’s automobile exports and hence the Japanese are stressing on better infrastructure links for a regional production network spanning India and its east Asian neighbours. To harness the region’s potential; infrastructure projects in the Chennai-Bangalore region would include expansion of Ennore port and outer ring road in Chennai. About 60% of Japanese foreign direct investment in Tamil Nadu is in the automotive sector where the state has a core competence.

Several manufacturing units would find it easier to move goods. Along the route are consumer electronics manufacturers in Sriperumbudur, leather industry in Ranipet, granite in Bargur, IT companies and commercial vehicle makers in Hosur.

The backward Rayalaseema region is all set to see rapid industrialisation in the coming days, thanks to the announcement of an industrial corridor along the Bangalore-Chennai national highway. Since the highway will pass through the Rayalaseema region, the districts of Chittoor and Anantapur, besides Nellore, are expected to see an industrial boom. As per the plan, the Krishnapatnam Port in Nellore will be included in phase-I of the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor and it would be developed as an alternative port for Chennai and Ennore ports which are burdened by traffic congestion.

In phase-II, the districts of Chittoor and Anantapur have been included along with Nellore for development of industrial clusters. The thrust will be on sectors like manufacturing including automobile and machine tools, but others like non-pollutant industries and the IT sector would also be developed. Industry department officials said a detailed report would be prepared in a year’s time. Once the project takes shape, various border towns and cities in the districts will have an opportunity to benefit from the industrial corridor. These include towns like Tirupati, Pileru (CM’s constituency), Nayudupeta, Gudur and Hindupur.