“Every Government inherits an economy. Our mandate, as given by our Chief Minister, is not merely to grow the economy, but to significantly upgrade it,” she said in her key note address at the Vettri Tamil Nadu Investment Conclave.
“We want to build more of the technology and high-value engineering that sits alongside the industries where we are already leaders,” Keerthana said.
“We want to move towards superior engineering, more R&D, more intellectual property, more global capability; in short, becoming a destination for innovation, not just production,” she said.
“That is how we aspire to build a USD 1.5 trillion economy,” Keerthana said.
“But capital alone will not get us there. The quality of the institutions surrounding capital matters just as much. We are establishing the Tamil Nadu Investor Promotion Commission under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary for major projects involving investments of Rs 200 crore or more, or employment of 5,000 people or more,” she said.
“Our Government is putting a 21-day clock on approvals, licences and NOCs. If the prescribed approvals are not given within 21 days of application, they will be considered deemed approvals,” Keerthana said.
“We are not simply asking investors to trust us. We are putting a clock on ourselves. We are strengthening the Tamil Nadu Single Window Portal and moving towards a seamless digital approval system,” she said.
Chief Minister has personally reached out to the Tamil diaspora worldwide, inviting them to be partners in this growth, so that our global Tamil network becomes an economic bridge between Tamil Nadu and the world, Keerthana said.
“Our new Industrial Policy will incorporate inputs from industry and stakeholders. We believe it should be something Government builds with industry. Investor First and People First are not competing priorities. A productive worker makes a productive company. A productive company creates better jobs and stronger families, she said.
Minister also highlighted the areas in which the State needs to improve.
“In food processing, Tamil Nadu ranks seventh in the country; in life sciences, we rank ninth, based on our share of national output. These are just two examples, I say that from this stage because if we cannot acknowledge where we are behind, we cannot close the gap,” she said.
Keerthana told the industry to share their feedback.
“Bring your hardest problems. Tell us where you need our support. Tell us where our policies can improve. Tell us what the next generation of Tamil Nadu’s industrial ecosystem should look like. We will listen and work to enable you,” she said.
The state government signed fresh memorandum of understandings for 97 projects involving investments of Rs 67,542 crore and creating employment opportunities for more than one lakh people, across sectors including automotive, renewables, life sciences, electronics, R&D and data centers.
“With today’s announcements, cumulative investment commitments in the first 100 days of our Government will cross Rs 1 lakh crore, generating more than 1 lakh 20 thousand job opportunities. This is on average a thousand crore of committed capital for every single day we have been in office,” Keerthana said.