Having spent more than two decades working at Cognizant, a Fortune-200 company that was incubated in Chennai and went on to become India’s second largest private employer, I often point to an enabling ecosystem characterised by high-quality talent, far-sighted and consistent industrial policy, an enviable work culture, decentralised industrial growth, a progressive administrative backbone and a long line of central ministers of industry and commerce hailing from the state. A deeper dive reinforces the state’s differentiated approach to riding multiple waves of structural opportunities over decades.
High-quality talent and inclusive growth
Tamil Nadu has consistently invested in education across urban and rural regions, resulting in the highest gross enrolment ratio (GER) and dominance across 11 of 17 disciplines in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for excellence in education. This talent density has resulted in Tamil Nadu having the highest number of factories, industrial workers and women workers in India, alongside consistently high GER among women and SC/ST communities.
One aspect often overlooked in the context of talent density is the state’s distinctive work culture. I can say from experience that the high levels of professional ethics and service orientation were among the factors that enabled Cognizant to scale to over 80,000 full-time employees in the state, including 16,000 in Coimbatore. Notably, women constituted approximately 40 per cent of the workforce in Chennai and 50 per cent in Coimbatore.
Policy continuity with an eye on the future
The backbone of the state’s progress has been its administrate engine. They not only nurtured growth-oriented policies but also ensured its continuity across political dispensations. Even more remarkable is the administration’s focus on emerging areas across industries and promoting entrepreneurship. Be it global capability centres (GCCs), electric vehicles, technical textiles and man-made fibre, medical tourism, foam leather, renewable energy, or sunrise sectors such as semiconductors, electronics and defence, the state has been at the forefront of policy formulation and implementation. It has also been immensely mindful of limiting red category industries, permitting them only under stringent environmental and regulatory oversight.
Another key aspect is the establishment of Guidance Tamil Nadu, a dedicated investment promotion body that speaks the language of business and bridge intent to execution with swift approvals through a single-window mechanism.
Decentralised industrial development
Tamil Nadu is the most urbanised in the country, with industrial clusters ensuring balanced development. This has driven high levels of economic inclusion. The creation of nodal agencies such as TIDCO, SIPCOT and ELCOT has enabled the spread of these industrial parks across dozens of districts.
With real GDP growth of 11.2 per cent in 2024-25, the highest among large states, Tamil Nadu shoulders a vital part of the responsibility to lead India towards becoming Viksit Bharat through sustainable and inclusive growth, coupled with healthy social development indicators. This is something that the state has become synonymous with, irrespective of the political party at the helm!
The author is Partner, Catalincs and former Chairman and MD, Cognizant India