The units are the initiatives of two sets of micro and small entrepreneurs in the respective areas under a consortium approach, who have been till now doing small scale trade using coir and its products on individual basis.
They will also be involving coconut farmers too in the new ventures. Coir Board, under Government of India, is extending grants to the tune of 75 per cent of the capital expenditure incurred for the two ventures. While the Palladam unit is coming up at an outlay of Rs 4.6 crore, the cost of setting up the Kangayam unit has been pegged at nearly Rs. 4 crore. “Grant from our side is earmarked from the corpus created by the Union Government under the Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries”, Coir Board regional officer G. Poopalan told The Hindu. The unit at Kangayam will be producing novel products such as spinning yarn and geo-textiles from coir fibre, while the Palladam unit will manufacture coir pith blocks meant for use in commercial nurseries and greenhouses and coir grow bags.
According to Mr. Poopalan, the value-added products selected to be rolled out from the two units have great demand across the globe.

Source : The Hindu