Krishna Mohan, a well-known veteran, has been associated with the cleaning industry for over two decades now. But he did take a hiatus. Now back to begin his second innings and, as a consultant with Suvidh, Krishna Mohan is keen to put his experience to better use. Speaking to Clean India Journal, he spoke about the industry and how Coimbatore has turned into a niche hub of cleaning equipment manufacturers
How did you decide that Coimbatore is the place where you wanted to settle down and work from?
Coimbatore is my hometown. I was away for about five years on a different assignment during the ISO 9000 era which took me across India for setting up calibration equipment. But Coimbatore has always been close to my heart. I know the industries and the people here, and that familiarity naturally drew me back.
Coimbatore is manufacturing everything from extrusion machines to industrial vacuum cleaners…
True. The machines, especially industrial vacuum cleaners, remind me of my earlier days. About 20 years ago, in my previous organisation, we tried to manufacture similar products after visiting leading Italian brands such as Delphin and Cibilia.
At that time, it wasn’t easy to replicate those technologies. But recently, when I started exploring again, I discovered not one or two but nearly a dozen companies in Coimbatore that are manufacturing similar ranges of equipment.
I personally visited some of them and was amazed to see that they were not competing directly with one another. Each had its own client base, some were exporting, and others were branding for different companies. Industrial vacuum cleaners are just one example. Imagine the potential when you consider the hundreds of other cleaning machines India needs. In the coming years, many more companies emerge across different regions of India each catering to their own local requirements.
Are not almost all the components needed for these machines are made right here in Coimbatore?
There are nearly a million small-scale industries in and around Coimbatore manufacturing parts. Historically, Coimbatore has been the hub for motor pumps, pump sets, wet grinders, and textile machinery. In fact, the world’s largest textile machinery manufacturer is based here.
” Within the next two to five years, I’m confident that India’s exports of cleaning equipment will grow substantially. And more than 50% of that will probably come from Coimbatore alone. “
These industries have built a strong foundation of high-quality manufacturing. Their components are not only used by Indian companies but are also exported worldwide.
That shows the quality and precision of work done here. Many of these small-scale industries are family-run and have continued for generations. The younger generations are expanding and diversifying, keeping the legacy alive. Today, Coimbatore is recognised as one of South India’s leading engineering cities for light to medium engineering goods. We may not have large-scale heavy engineering industries like BHEL or BEML here, but when it comes to light and medium engineering, Coimbatore leads the way.
The presence of many engineering colleges also plays a key role in creating a pool of talent.
Absolutely. Coimbatore has a few world-ranked engineering institutions that are affiliated with several European and American universities. They have student exchange programmes, and entry into these colleges is highly competitive — you need nearly 99.9% marks to qualify! About 30-40% of the students are from overseas. These institutions do not stop at academics as they also run industrial training centres and hospitals, creating complete ecosystems of learning and application.