India’s first machine tool park ready for investors in Karnataka

Both state and central govts have set up a special purpose vehicle named Tumakuru Machine Tool Park (TMTP) to develop the new industrial cluster

Karnataka, which is home to India’s first Aerospace SEZ, electronics city and several IT parks, is now ready with India’s first integrated machine tool park.

The park, spread over 530 acres at Vasanthnarasapura, about 90 kms from Bengaluru, is developed under the scheme of Enhancement of Competitiveness in Indian Capital Goods Sector (ECICGS), jointly by the state government and the Department of Heavy Industries, Government of India.

The Indian Machine Tools Manufacturers Association (IMTMA), has provided the technical assistance to the country’s biggest machine tool park which is ready for occupation.

Both the state and central governments have set up a special purpose vehicle named Tumakuru Machine Tool Park (TMTP) to develop the new industrial cluster. It has 158 ready-to-build industrial plots of various dimensions. The park is fully developed with proper layout, concrete roads, footpath, drainage, electricity, water linkage and even bus shelters.

“The government of India has set an ambitious target of achieving $5 trillion economy by 2025, of which the manufacturing sector contribution will be around $1 trillion. Within the manufacturing sector, the role of machine tools is vital. To achieve these targets, we need to build a robust machine tool ecosystem and TMTP is an attempt in that direction,” V Anbu, Secretary, Director General & CEO of Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association (IMTMA) told DH.

Tumakuru Machine Tool Park. Credit: DH Infographics

He said the machine tool park was conceived about eight years ago and with the support of department of heavy industries, the government of India and Karnataka governments, the park has become a reality and is set to play an important role in consolidating Karnataka’s numero uno position in the manufacture of machine tools.

Already, Karnataka is the third highest contributing state for heavy engineering in India. It accounts for 52% of India’s total share in machine tool production and 62% of machine tool exports. The machine tool industry is estimated to have dropped by 30% to touch Rs 6,500 crore in 2019-20 and is set to bounce back in FY21.

Many global and Indian companies such as TaeguTec, Yuken, HMT, BFW, AMS, Makino, Bosch, Kennametal and Liebherr are operating out of Karnataka.

The Tumakuru Machine Tool Park is developed at a cost of Rs 508 crore, of which Rs 125 crore each is the equity contribution of Karnataka and Central governments.

Out of 158 industrial parks at TMTP, some of the large companies have taken 22 plots spread over 128 acres and the balance plots are available for sale. The TMTP will have some of the common facilities like common engineering facility centre, test & certification centre, incubation centre for startups, technical centre for training, seminars and conferences. It is located within the Tumakuru Industrial Township on the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor.

“The main idea of TMTP was to develop the machine tool industry. The park is located at the Tumakuru node of Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor. Very soon, there will be a dedicated railway line between Tumakuru and Davanagere that will pass through Vasanthnarasapura,” N Shivashankar, CEO, TMTP said.

Over the next few years, Tumakuru will emerge as a massive industrial hub in Karnataka, he added.

Advantages

The advantages of TMTP are its proximity to Dabhol-Bangalore gas pipeline, and quick access to Bangalore international airport (105 kms). The nearest seaport at Mangaluru is just about 350 kms away. It is also located 4 kms from the national highway connecting Bengaluru with Pune.

At TMTP, the land is offered at a concessional rate of Rs 1 crore per acre, while the cost of land at other industrial parks nearby is in excess of Rs 1.20 crore per acre. All new manufacturing industries coming into production by March 2023 will have a reduced corporate tax rate of 15%, which is a major step to encourage investments in the machine tools park, said P J Mohanram, Senior Advisor, IMTMA.

“The big advantage for machine tool companies to establish their plants at TMTP is not only the domestic market, but that they can look at serving the entire south east Asian market. It will offer huge cost advantage compared to operating from Germany,” he said.

Another major advantage is that the TMTP is situated opposite the upcoming Japanese Industrial Township, where industrial plots are offered to only Japanese companies. At TMTP, plots are reserved exclusively for machine tool companies (both Indian and multinational). In addition to the land, there is an availability of trained manpower in the surrounding areas. Tumakuru is home to three engineering colleges that produce required engineering graduates.

Some of the machine tool companies that have taken land at TMTP include Coastal Chrome India, Ace Multi Axes Systems Ltd, Anupam CNC Machining Pvt Ltd, Amwin Machining Pvt Ltd, Advance Cooling and Nayak Precisions among others.

Many other companies like Pragati Automation, BFW, Trishul, Ace Designers and Jyoti CNC have evinced interest to acquire land in the park, according to KIADB.