COIMBATORE: The Southern India Engineering Manufacturers’ Association (SIEMA) has set a target for its member companies to collectively reach a turnover of US$5 billion (about Rs 50,000 crore) over the next five years, positioning Coimbatore’s pump cluster to capture a larger share of the global pump market estimated at around US$95 billion.The announcement was made at SIEMA’s 73rd annual general meeting (AGM) held here on Tuesday, where new office-bearers took charge.M A Sendilkumar of Superteck Industries assumed office as president. Arun Ranganathan of Suguna Industries, K Mohan Senthilkumar of Aqua Flow and R Karthikeyan of OMI Pumps took charge as vice-presidents.Coimbatore, widely recognised as one of India’s key pump manufacturing hubs, supplies pumps and components to several international brands. The region’s MSMEs have emerged as dependable vendors for major global companies. SIEMA, established in 1952–53, has played a central role in developing the cluster through industry coordination and support initiatives.As part of its long-term roadmap towards 2031, SIEMA said a key focus would be import substitution. India currently imports pumps worth about US$450 million annually.SIEMA said it would work with member units, with support from the Scientific and Industrial Testing and Research Centre (SiTarc) and the Coimbatore Industrial Infrastructure Association (COINDIA), to develop indigenous, high-quality alternatives to imported products. The effort is expected to reduce import dependence while opening export opportunities in other developing markets.SIEMA listed policy requests to the govt. The requests included recognising the pump industry as a thrust sector to enable access to subsidies, interest subvention and other investment support measures.On taxation, SIEMA flagged the GST increase on pumps from 12% to 18% and sought a reduction to 5% to improve competitiveness and narrow the gap between organised and unorganised segments.Citing the need to scale quality and output, SIEMA said the sector must accelerate adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies such as robotics, automation and advanced manufacturing, and sought government support for technology upgradation.With over 80% of SIEMA members in the micro and small enterprise segment, the association asked for stronger support for R&D, product innovation and international marketing, projecting a growth trajectory comparable to Tirupur’s hosiery cluster.
