Ideally, Tamil Nadu is where more investors should be pouring in their money. Rail, road, port, air and surface transport in abundance provide for easy mobility, while the surfeit of high-quality educational institutions and top-notch hospitals and handsome incentives complete the circle of comfort.
If there is one state that global investors should throw their rings into, it is Tamil Nadu. What is it that you need when you step into an alien soil to set business? Structural infrastructure like rail, road, port and air, plus social infrastructures like education and healthcare. The state offers all of these in abundance and should hence be the first-choice destination for investment.
First the highlights.
Tamil Nadu has a 1000 plus km long coastline dotted with four large seaports viz., Chennai, Kattupalli, Ennore and Tuticorin, as also several minor ports. These facilitate quick import and export. It has four international airports, at Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchi and Madurai. Many other airports are coming up. All of these provide easy connectivity.
The state has a well-laid railway system that connects different parts of the state. Large sections of it are already electrified. The metropolis has a 90-year history of a suburban rail system that helped develop the city along the rail corridor. There is a Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) on elevated tracks introduced three decades ago. Since 2010, the state focused on the Metro Rail that will reshape our city. Add to these a reliable bus transport for the commoner and the picture of totality in mobility is complete. With around 21,000 buses, the state-run services, supplemented by private players, provide fast and convenient facilities for reaching different parts of the state.
Regarding power, the state has a healthy mix of conventional and renewable power generating systems: both coal and oil-based thermal stations, hydel power plants, nuclear power, wind and solar power generation plus those based on bioenergy. Tamil Nadu has emerged an energy efficient state and power shortage has become a thing of the past.
Rich social infrastructure
When you come to social infrastructure, you talk about education and healthcare. With 600-plus engineering colleges, 29 medical colleges and over 700 odd management, arts and science colleges spread across the state, there is wide choice for higher education. With literacy high and well-spread, there is easy availability of educated manpower to suit different needs. This is exemplified by the spectacular growth of the engineering and IT sectors. Look also at the ease with which the Taiwanese MNCs Foxconn and Feng Tay recruit, train and employ several thousands of rural women on highly skilled jobs!
Tamil Nadu is the leader in healthcare. The early attention to nutrition by pioneering the free mid-day meal scheme for school children, the special care bestowed on child and the mother and the chief minister’s comprehensive health insurance scheme have proved to be models adopted across India. Chennai and other cities of the state have super specialty hospitals for tertiary care. Be it cardiac care, treatment for cancer, diabetes management, orthopedics or ophthalmology, the state offers state-of-the-art facilities for diagnosis and treatment.
We now elaborate on these strengths.
