The Tamil Nadu Coir Policy 2024, unveiled by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Thursday, aims to attract investments worth ₹3,000 crore in the sector by 2030 and generate 60,000 jobs.
The policy is also aimed at providing a strategic framework that supports the continued expansion of the coir sector, fostering research and development, and preparing the sector to face the rising demand for bio-degradable, renewable and eco-conscious solutions and products.
It seeks to ensure effective coordination among various stakeholders, encourage investment and innovation, establish new enterprises and leverage the State’s unique strengths and promote its products on a global scale.
Promoting coir products in government departments, arranging buyer-seller meetings and delegation trips, virtual pavilion, digital marketing, facilitating access to domestic and global markets, establishing a coir park and a coir test laboratory, credit facilitation and incentive support are among the other measures envisaged by the policy.
It also seeks to promote balanced industrialisation by facilitating investments, promote entrepreneurs from marginalised sections, promote and facilitate green initiatives and provide a thrust for the scaling-up and diversification of coir MSMEs.
It envisages the setting up of Centres of Excellence and facilitating industry-academia-private research interactions exclusively for new, innovative coir products.
The policy acknowledges that the coir industry in Tamil Nadu is facing “a panorama of challenges”, including insufficient credit support, formidable competition from synthetic and alternative fibres, sub-optimal domestic utilisation, and absence of established manufacturing protocols for coir products, among other problems.
Tamil Nadu cultivates coconut in over 4.46 lakh hectares, and the State’s productivity of coconut stands at 10,484 nuts per ha. The total investment in the coir sector is ₹5,331 crore. “The total turnover of coir products in Tamil Nadu is ₹5,368 crore, and the export value of coir products is ₹2,186 crore,” the policy said.
Minister for MSMEs T.M. Anbarasan, Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena and senior officials were present on the occasion. A copy of the policy could be accessed on The Hindu portal at https://thlink.in/TNCoirPolicy.
