Coimbatore - City Guide

Coimbatore is the second largest city in the state of Tamil Nadu. As it is exposed to the Palghat gap of Western Ghats it enjoys a salubrious climate, this has attracted a large number of textile mills to this region. There are more than 25,000 small, medium, large and tiny industries and textile mills. No wonder it is rightly called the Manchester of South India. Coimbatore is also famous for the manufacture of motor pump sets and varied engineering goods, due to which it has earned the title “Detroit of the South".

This small agricultural town has grown into a bustling modern industrial city, because of the farmers of the region, many of whom, generations ago, fleeing from invaders in their native Andhra, came with dreams to settle on this land, which they came to love as their own.

They introduced cotton growing which was ideally suited to the black soil of Coimbatore. By dint of hard work, they carved a niche for themselves in this otherwise harsh land. With the passage of time came elaborate irrigation schemes and the harnessing of hydroelectric power which led to the development in this area as one of South India's finest agrarian economies where millets, paddy, cotton, tea, oilseeds, betel nut, turmeric, coffee and tobacco were cultivated. The Gounders, Tamil farmers who made their living by tilling the soil and Kannada speaking agriculturists, the Okkaligas and the Lingayats, who followed Tippu Sultan into the region also played significant roles in the agricultural success of Coimbatore.

Coimbatore, the entrepreneur's dream, remains a city where age-old customs survive, where family bonds are strong and where fusion of tradition and modernity remain the secret of the city's success.