Coir industry's growth dazzling

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Palakkad, Kerala, India, Republic of (Free-Press-Release.com) December 16, 2011 -- I met Shri V S Vijayaraghavan, Chairman, Coir Board, who relinquished his office of Chairman, a few days ago

In a khadi attire, bemused ex-chairman of the Board, recounted his valiant ventures taken up which saw Coir exports sour, and domestic market treble.When he accepted office, the Domicile sword of closure of Coir Bhavans was very much in the air. He not only prevailed upon the Government to strengthen these offices, but also opened a few more, which increased the net domestic turnover of coir products which were sold in consignment system.

Director General of Disposals and Supplies had included Coir board to supply goods to governmental departmental departments and Shri Vijayaraghavan made good use of this to sell the coir products to Railways, defence, Tirupathi Devaswanam, etc. Not a man to take lying down his responsibilities, Shri Vijayaraghavan, embarked on voyages of trade promotion, including a visit to the His Eminence Pop, and was able to impress them to go in for Co products. He was instrumental in getting to work CCRI which he put to good use. Coir Pith and Coir Geo textiles found niche markets and improved their export prowess.

It was during his tenure, the state governments which had coir industries, worked in tandem with Coir Board. His amenable nature, his soft yet stern stand on various issues got him plenty of support..

Shri Vijayaraghavan, took the industry along, created confidence, begot their trust. Using his connections with the Central Government, the ex-Chairman managed to bring Coir mats and matting of Chapter 57 under Duty Drawback begetting 3.5%. For the first time, Coir Tufted mats got 3.5%. Coir mats was also included in Special Focus product Scheme with 5% subsidy. The industry benefitted because of the large benefits conferred on Coir products from Promotional Schemes in the Foreign Trade Policy.

Shri Vijayaraghavan was involved in making the REMOTE Scheme largely populist due to his acute intervention and action. He held programmes in far off places, conducted Seminars, programmes for the users, and released grants so that many SFURTI Clusters could take off on the ground.

He was largely responsible for creating visibility for Coir products in the Indianmarket. He also brought in professionalism, and created an envorionment of good service to the Public by putting in place many mechanism in the Coir Board.

A beaming Shri Vijayaraghavan told me that he has left the Coir industry in a better shape and build than what it was when I received it. He looked back at his 3 year tenure with intense satisfaction.

A man who would never take 'No' for an answer, confided in me, that the industry was at the cross roads and required an able administrator to steer it out of the cold water. He was optimistic that the industry had intrinsic strength to withstand the impediments. I appreciate his optimism.

As a former export advisor to Coir Board , I felt that Shri Vijayaraghavan has left a rich legacy, and turned the traditional industry at a time when the going was not good. Now with the times, becoming more bad, with Rupee devaluation, major crunches in the traditional markets, Coir industry faces an uphill task.

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