Tamil Nadu seems to be a welcome partner for the diaspora’s aspirations of creating wealth. Proactive and business-friendly ecosystems with a persistent effort to market the state promise the flow of more investments.
Upbeat is the entrepreneurial mood of the Tamil diaspora in the US. Much optimism prevails over the diaspora taking jobs and technology back to Tamil Nadu. There seems to be a thirst for increasing competencies, easing procedures & most importantly, marketing the state.
“Today, India is scoring high as an investment destination. To make sure the businesses land in TN, the administration must seek to market the state continuously and innovatively. The current administration is well-poised to take this up,” feels M R Rangaswami, an entrepreneur, investor and a corporate eco-strategy expert from the Silicon Valley. He is also a member of the TN Industry Minister’s Advisory Board. “The state is aggressive in pursuing economic growth. There seems to be a goal and a matrix in place. The administration is receptive to taking new ideas to move forward. The future looks promising,” said Rangaswami. “Tamil Nadu has been known for its production of automobiles; now is the time to focus on electric vehicle manufacturing. The production of electronics- semiconductors has sound potential. We have invited the chief minister, finance minister, industry minister and the Secretaries to visit the USA frequently.” He suggested that they need to come and talk about their plans and get connected with the diaspora. |
“Industry is looking for ease of doing business. In the US, we are used to incorporating a business complying with all formalities, all done online in less than a few hours. Need to have a one-point contact for processing business proposals,” said Mahendran Sundarraj, an entrepreneur living in the US for close to two decades. Incidentally, TN Guidance has attended to this requirement, as the interview with Pooja Kulkarni appearing elsewhere in this issue suggests. |
Ram Nagappan, the co-founder of the American Tamil Entrepreneurs Association (ATEA) New Jersey, said ATEA is working closely with TN Guidance, connecting the US entrepreneurs. Ram observed that the government ecosystem is conducive to attracting investments. Investments are happening in fintech, health, pharma, electronics, electric vehicles and the Cloud space, both small and medium sectors. |
The well-educated and hardworking Tamil diaspora is among the US population’s high-income earning sections. You will find them in senior positions in iconic institutions spread across the USA. A proactive state administration seems well-geared to attract them for sharing their technology, management and wealth.