TeaThat election promise and then in 2011 J. The delivery of free mixies and wet mills made by Jayalalithaa is often cited as a classic example of ‘.freebie’ Culture is lost. After all, while other freebies like cycles, subsidized rice and gas cylinders for women students have proven to be socio-economic benefits and can be justified as welfare interventions, the wet grinder is hardly a necessary good that enhances social welfare. Nevertheless, the story of the modern wet grinder and its adoption is fascinating as how indigenous innovation, entrepreneurial ambitions and state support combine to create a thriving cottage industry and cluster.
Wet grinder is a mechanized food processing equipment used to grind grains to prepare slurry for traditional South Indian staples such as idli, dosa and vada. It was invented in 1955 by a Coimbatore based high-school dropout, P. Sabpati When he was working as an apprentice in an industrial unit. Sabpati’s pioneering innovation was improved upon by self-taught local inventors and aspiring businessmen from around Coimbatore such as Krishnamurthy of Lakshmi Grinders, who started commercial production, and Duraiswamy, who introduced it. bow down Wet mill, which improved the consistency and quality of the batter. Continuous experimentation and tinkering with technology helped to refine and create scores of mechanized batter making equipment, which are now ubiquitous in South India and created a unique industrial cluster in Coimbatore, with little support State in the initial years.
‘Freebie’ boom
The Mechanized Wet Grinder put an end to the tremendous hard work involved in preparing the batter in South Indian cuisine, which involved manually grinding and grinding the grains using a granite mortar and pestle after soaking overnight. This freed up a significant amount of time for a married woman to pursue other activities and to introduce greater dietary diversity in household consumption.
This remarkable contraption contributed significantly to the development of Coimbatore as an industrial manufacturing hub. While other parts of India started producing wet grinders, Coimbatore wet grinder is the most renowned in terms of quality and was given a Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2005. In 2015, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Estimated Coimbatore district alone had over 700 small units, producing over 75,000 wet mills every month (about 80 per cent of the total production in the country) and directly employing over 20,000 people.
Given its long production history and the entrepreneurial spirit of its makers, choosing Coimbatore Wet Grinder as the district’s signature ODOP product under the One District One Product Initiative seemed like a no-brainer. In fact, it was one of the first 106 products choose For promotion under the scheme by Invest India and Ministry of Commerce.
A structural change occurred in the Coimbatore industrial cluster as a result of the Jayalalithaa government’s announcement of the distribution of free two-litre ‘Amma Wet Grinders’ in Tamil Nadu in 2011. In 2011, the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation awarded tenders to 12 manufacturers-10 from Coimbatore, who were required to provide over 1.85 crore wet grinders to ration card holders across Tamil Nadu. As a result of this unprecedented demand for grinders, the hitherto unorganized micro units in Coimbatore combined resources and massive investments to form a consortium, the Coimbatore Wet Grinders Manufacturers Association (COWMA). Rising Production capacity to meet the requirements of the state. Rs 2,800 crore in unorganized micro unit industrys per annum in turnover during the “Amma Wet Grinder” distribution period.
In fact, it’s a ‘freebie’ The announcement alone resulted in a massive surge and revealed vulnerabilities in the supply chain. Soon, everything from polished granite stone to a lack of adequate electric motors was lacking. This resulted in the import of motors from China to meet the demand.
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hard to sell
By the time the new model code of conduct came into force before the assembly elections in 2015, the demand for weight grinders was at its peak. Now, practically every household in Tamil Nadu had a two-liter wet mill, and Amma’s mill was also running. smuggling For sale to nearby Andhra Pradesh. The industrial units which had invested in expansion had huge untapped potential.
Coimbatore Wet Grinder has limited practical application – making a batter of a certain consistency from grains. It is not widely used in North Indian cuisine, and is unheard of abroad except in the South Indian diaspora in Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
While the Coimbatore Wet Grinder was the district’s initially announced ODOP product, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade and Investment has struggled to find overseas markets to promote such a specific use product, leading to a rethink on their ODOP product.
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explorers from coimbatore
Until the end of August 2021, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry continues to list wet grinders as a target product export promotion, Meanwhile, industry bodies and chambers of commerce in Coimbatore felt the need to tinker with their business plan and started redesigning their units to focus on other ancillary products. The always enterprising entrepreneurs of Coimbatore, realizing that the electric motor fitted in the wet grinder could be used for many other home appliances with wider applications, lobbied for a change in the district’s ODOP product.
As of June 2022, a . In submit Coimbatore’s signature product definition was expanded to focus on a wider range—motor pumps and other consumer electronic products—for the Rajya Sabha Standing Committee on Commerce—constituted to examine the rollout of the ODOP initiative. While Amma Wet Grinder ‘freebie’ While the plan resulted in an unintentional boom, it also revealed gaps in their capabilities – specifically, the fact that they had to rely on China for motors. The ingenuity of the Coimbatore manufacturers allowed them to realize a new opportunity, re-develop their existing, strong industrial base and churn out related products that meet the emerging demands.
District Bar Codes is a series on One District One Product (ODOP) scheme by the Government of India. read all articles here,
Adhiraj Parthasarathy works in the public policy and development sector, and has worked on various district level programs and initiatives. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)