Truck Economy
– Snapshot of India’s much thrived truck district of Tamilnadu
History says that after the struggle between the Cheras, Cholas and Pandiyas, the Hoysalas rose to power and had control till the 14th Century followed by Vijayanagar Kings till 1565 A.D. Then the Madurai Nayakas came to power in 1623 A.D. Two of the Polygons of Thirumalai Nayak namely, Ramachandra Nayaka and Gatti Mudaliars ruled the Salem area. After about 1625 A.D., the area came successively under the rule of Muslim Sultans of Bijapur and Golkinda Mysore kings and then the Marathas, when about the year 1750 A.D. Hyder Ali came to power. During this period, it was a history of power struggle between Hyder Ali and later Tippu , with the British. The Rock Fort in Namakkal is a special feature of the Town.
The district is well served by road transports. NH-7 and NH-47 pass through all the taluk headquarters, other towns and most of the villages are connected by motorable roads.
The commercial vehicle industry is thriving in the region. The district boasts of having very good commercial vehicles. The numbers speak
5174 State permit lorry
5825 National permit lorry.
976 Tractors / Trailer
1374 Station Wagons
228 Light Commercial Vehicles
The economy of the district was primarily agricultural, but today it has now changed its occupation to Lorries, educational institutions, poultry and real estates.
Namakkal district is noted for Truck and Lorry external body building which dates back to 1956. Throughout India Namakkal is known for its Body Building industry for Trucks, Trailers, Tankers and Rig Unit. Finished trucks and Rig Units are even exported to foreign countries from Namakkal. Nearly 25000 people are employed either directly or indirectly in truck body building activity and about 300 units in Namakkal and 100 Units in Tiruchengode are engaged in this activity. There is a separate industrial estate for this activity.
Ashok Leyland has a driver training centre in Namakkal, started in 1995 to deliver to the needs of driver for life on the road and off the road. They are also educated on yoga, health and AIDS awareness etc other than the regular curriculum.
The Namakkal-Tiruchengode belt accounts for over 150 of the units. Namakkal district, a major trucking hub in the country, alone has about 110 units, including 12 large-sized building houses.
The major units are capable of delivering 25-50 trucks a month and some of them possess the capability of building specialized vehicles in building body for hydraulic tippers, trailer fabrication and other sophisticated models as required by fleet owners and petroleum/oil tankers, meeting the stringent norms of the Chief Controller of Explosives, Nagpur.
Faced with cost escalation, of late, several Namakkal units were working as labour contractors with the requisite materials being supplied by the owners themselves.
The industry also faces many problems in terms of the price of steel, which was around Rs 28 per kg, had gone up steeply in recent months to Rs 68 per kg. Similarly, the Kongu/Malaysian Sal timber imported from the Sarawak Island in Malaysia, which was sold at Rs 800 per cubic foot, had now gone up to Rs 1,350 per cft. Besides, prices of electrical items, wiring, fixtures, paints and other materials had also gone up. Faced with cost escalation, of late, several Namakkal units were working as labour contractors with the requisite materials being supplied by the owners themselves. The acute power shortage had also hampered the industry as the units were unable to maintain the delivery schedule, affecting the livelihood of the workers.
The cost of the materials would come to around Rs 2 to Rs 2.5 lakh for a routine body built on the chassis of Comet and Taurus models of Ashok Leyland. The units bill in the range of Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 for labour.
In one of the excerpts, Mr. Gurumurthy Convener of Swadeshi Jagarn Manch has voiced that as far as Namakkal is concerned, the body building units and large truck manufacturers are not working together and has expressed that if these small operators get some kind of franchise rights it will ensure a better quality of work and organized assured work, the Japanese model of outsourced work. For example, Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors can outsource its body building work from their own manufacturing units to Namakkal and cater to the needs of the customer needs, thus mitigating the risks and making the model more profitable.
Tamilnadu lorry services, Sengam Transport are some of the predominant truck operators in the region. Mr. Kalliappan, Managing Director Tamil Nadu Lorry Service (Key Accounts of Tata Motors) say that Ashok Leyland redefined this market space. As Taurus was introduced it created huge economic opportunities for people in the bottom level of the pyramid to afford. Even a Wada maker has the pride of owning a single / multi axle vehicle and run it for market load operations. This has even given an exponential growth to the rethreading industry and the secondary tire and aggregates market.
Namakkal also has some of the firsts credited to its name. This is the first market for radial tires in the country and has the maximum usage of radial tires than the cross ply tyres.
The critical issue this industry faces is the driver’s social acceptability. There is a huge crisis for drivers as the earning is not very attractive. There is a talent crisis as new entrants do not prefer this as a career alternative as the profession is not as glamorous as the new economic industries such as IT / ITES and services economy. HIV and problems associated with sexual infections has affected the driver society and the image in their matrimonial market has depreciated. Most of the drivers in the region are married to other community girls.
In short Namakkal has contributed significantly to the truck community of the country.
