From ox-carts to borewell rigs: Maintenance, manufacture and innovation in tiruchengode

Abstract

Tiruchengode, located in the Salem district in Tamil Nadu in south India, is a town mentioned in numerous studies on the relationship between urbanisation and industrialisation. In this small town of 95,000 inhabitants (2011), a number of small companies have developed productive and intensive commercial activities within the textiles sector and also, more surprisingly, within the transport and water well drilling sectors. The aim of this chapter is to document the diversification of the local manufacturing industry and analyse the formation of an “industrial district” (Schmitz and Nadvi 1999) that specialises in lorry body building and borewell and rig unit assembly. How can the development of a nationwide cluster on the margins of the Indian urban system be explained? How did artisans specialising in repairing vehicles gradually begin manufacturing vehicles themselves? In exploring this form of industrial organisation in the Indian context, we report on the conditions that have led to the emergence of new entrepreneurs using a case study of the “self-made engineer” who has become a leading manufacturer of rigs, which are now exported throughout Africa.