B Santhanam, CEO, Asia Pacific & India Region, Saint-Gobain
Tamil Nadu has always managed to stay ahead over the last century. More than 100 years ago, the TVS group started work in bus transport, automotive trade and later set-up manufacturing plants. Then we had the Amalgamations group, Murugappa group and others started in different parts of the state. Through all stages, be it in 1920s, 1950s, the 1990s and the 2000s, we have always seen Tamil Nadu, taking a step forward into new era industries. Today, we talk about the industries of the future by representatives from Tata Electronics, Salcomp, First Solar…
TN has a very high literacy rate for women, somewhere close to 80 per cent. There is a high Gross Enrolment Ratio. I also see a highly and deeply-layered technical talent. The industry 4.0 global centre of excellence for Saint Gobain group is headquartered in Chennai; we have very high talented people here.
There is a negative perception of women employment decreasing in India. Traditionally women were employed in construction and agriculture; this is where we see women employment decreasing. But actually, they are leaving poor jobs to join better jobs. But the question is how do we really pivot them into the industry of the future.
There is the perception of an inability for Chennai and in a larger sense Tamil Nadu, to accept and include other cultures or people from different backgrounds. But what is surprising to me is the number of multi-nationals that have come and been very successful in Tamil Nadu, in particular in Chennai. I see a paradox in this. Taking note of this, even the government has realised that to grow towards a trillion-dollar economy, we need to be more inclusive, accepting and making it easier for others to come.
