[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
While most of the industrial associations are marred by inefficiencies and lack of vision, the Bidadi industrial area association stands apart, forming the connecting link between the government, industry and the society
Q Tell us about the formation and functioning of the Bidadi Industrial Area association?
The Bidadi Industries Association is a Toyota initiative established in 2012. The state government had started acquiring land for the industrial area in 1995. It is spread over 1,500 acres and around 60 per cent of the land is acquired by Toyota and its group companies. Toyota started its operations here in 1998 and is among the first to start operations. Currently around 114 companies, mainly manufacturing units, have become the members of this association. Bigger companies include Toyota, Bosche and Coca Cola, while the remaining are medium and small scale operating into food industry, auto component.
Objective of the association: There are many small players who are not able to interact with the government and the community independently. As a bigger organisation Toyota wants to help them by safeguarding their interest while contributing to the national economy. Toyota invited all the major players including Bosche and other Toyota group of companies to support the initiative.
As the first step, a special purpose group was formed and one person from each company would be deputed on full-time to work for this group, which now includes 13 people who work towards the following objectives:
- To take care of the needs of smaller companies
- To take care of the infrastructure
- To take over maintenance from the government as per the provision in the Panchayat Raj act
The aim is to make the association an autonomous body in the long term that will be funded by all the industries. Last month a major breakthrough was that the association has become a semi-autonomous body and with this the maintenance charges that all the industries were earlier paying to the state government is now coming to the association directly. All the basic amenities will be managed by the association.
The association has four pillars industry connect, community connect, government connect and the estate management.
Industry connect: During the initial days of the association the members were not much familiar with each other. So a database of the industries, human resources and operations was created. The association also created its own webpage and started the membership drive. We invited each company to join the association. When we started we were only 50 members and today we are 140. Every month the senior people in the association meet and discuss the issues, while every quarter an “ADALAT” is organised and the grievance of the industry is addressed. A review of all the happenings is also discussed annually. All members are also connected on social media.
Government connect: Details of the support required from the government has been listed out which is conveyed to the state government. This has improved our rapport with the government and we feel as if we are part of the government. By virtue of the government about Rs.40 crore worth development activity has been started. For instance, the roads connecting to Bidadi industrial area were single-lane 40 feet road. About 2,000 vehicles commute to the area and about 300 containers arrive from the ports here. This required improved road infrastructure. The association took up this matter with the state government and the roads were broadened to 100 feet with an expenditure of Rs.25 crore.
The association is connected with all the major government departments such as the pollution control board, EXIM council, Lok Adalat, so whenever the government needs to communicate to the industries it is approaching to the association as a single point of contact.
Community connect: Any CSR activity in the Bidadi industrial area has to be routed through the association. Bosch India Foundation has formed a CSR organisation which works with the association and together a CSR plan has been worked out. We have adopted about 35 villages for holistic development. Various initiatives on education, women empowerment and productivity improvement are in progress and companies funding these activities will get brand promotion.
Estate management: Governments generally do not take care of the maintenance of any industrial area, so the infrastructure like roads are in a very poor condition. We have prepared a master plan to make Bidadi the best industrial area and based on the development plan for the next five years we have estimated that we require Rs.100 crore. To fund this we created revenue model according to which each industry will pay for each square feet, depending on its holding. By virtue of this the fund for development has increased from six lakhs to Rs.1.5 crore. This has helped us in taking over the maintenance from the state government. Even companies advertising in the industrial area now need to pay to the association.
The association also buys water from BWSSD and sells it to the industries for a reasonable profit. With these revenue resources in the next two to three years the association plans to create a company that will take care of all the above mentioned functions. The association has requested the top companies to share two per cent of their profit with the association for developmental activities. Many companies have appreciated the plan and have agreed to share two to three crore every year. By 2022 the aim is to be financially self-sufficient.
What makes the association unique is availability of full-time dedicated staff, issues of the companies and community are being addressed. These elements are largely missing in most other associations.
Q What makes the association successful? Is it because Toyota took the lead or people have really seen that this model will work?
When we started this project we had a fair idea of how to run it. We had lots of brainstorming sessions and ideas evolved one by one. Initially, even these four pillars were not there and the entire focus was on infrastructure development. Over the past one and a half year we evolved. We then approached to all other associations and started explaining this concept, so that the country will ultimately benefit. We have used the services of Jetro wherever required. Honda has come forward to adapt the model. This is the second phase wherein we are communicating the successful model for others to benefit.
Q What are the logistics challenges companies face here?
Almost 15 companies are doing export business here. 90 per cent of the exports are done by Toyota and Toyota group companies. Every day for Toyota alone about 200-250 containers arrive in the industrial area. Containers basically come from Chennai through road traveling a distance of 340 km. Rail connectivity is available but road is more economical.
The Mysore road is the only route for movement of containers. Since both employee vehicles and cargo move through this road it is getting congested. We have requested the government for direct connection to the expressway, which requires laying of road for another 7 km. NHAI will expand the Mysore road to six lane in the next four years.
In 1998 when Toyota started operations in this industrial area it took just 45 minutes for cargo to reach the city outskirts, today it takes two hours twenty minutes. In the next three years the connectivity to expressway will be operational and the Bengaluru road will be used only by the public to commute, while the cargo movement will be diverted to expressway for seamless movement.
Q What are your immediate and long-term plans?
Immediate plan is to stabilise operations as we have taken over from KDB and are functioning as an independent body now, and the long-term plan is to become an autonomous body. By the year 2022, we will collect the tax from local villages within the vicinity of the industrial area and provide them basic amenities. By this time we will grow from an association to an organisation. We will offer technical support wherein if somebody is starting a new unit and requires expert advice, we will provide the same through an advisory committee that will be formed by 2020. Another initiative in pipeline is that we will create a human resources database to be matched against the vacancies for easy recruitment of talent.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
