Tamil Nadu is to host the third Global Investors Meet (GIM) in January 2024. In a run up to it, the Chief Minister along with the Industry Minister, recently held road shows and stakeholder meets with various countries and projected the strengths of the state.
Tamil Nadu has several positives when it comes as an investment destination. Well-spread industrial clusters, backdrop of traditional manufacturing with an established services sector, good connectivity and cushioning of a developed social structure. All these make the state a conducive environment for both growth and investment. The first two GIMs were hosted in 2015 and 2019. Since then, much has changed – a new ruling party, a semiconductor shortage and a pandemic. This year, the government is all ushered in to garner investment to push forward the state towards a trillion-dollar economy. Rs 100 crore was set apart in the FY24 budget for this meet.
The road shows began with the Nordic countries. Tamil Nadu made a strong pitch during the World Economic Forum in Davos. Chief Minister M K Stalin first went to Dubai signing MoUs worth Rs 6100 crore. Following this, his recent visit to Singapore and Japan resulted in signing of 6 MoUs each with the countries.
Tamil Nadu has traditional strength in automobiles, textiles, manufacturing amongst others. In line with the changing world order, the state has rightly shifted focus towards, EV, electronics manufacturing, aerospace, defence, renewable energy and technical textiles.
Focus on non-leather footwear
The state is in a transitional phase. It is slowly moving out of an agrarian economy. In this transition, the existing workforce need to be diverted into other sectors. Tamil Nadu has roped in non-leather footwear makers to set up shops in rural areas. Major players like Pou Chen Corporation and Feng Tay have a presence and the government is looking forward to set up massive manufacturing units in 20 locations spread across the rural areas.
These factories employ people with just 10th pass and train them to make world-class shoes that are exported throughout the world. Most of the employees are women and these organisations provide benefits like transportation, food, child care, amongst others. These working women have brought about a massive social change in backward areas.
In line with this, the state had signed an MoU with the Taiwan Footwear Manufacturers Association to reach out to major players in the sector. The government targets to attract investments worth Rs 20,000 crore in the sector by 2025.
Charging up the EV Space
The next major focus has been on EVs, aerospace and defence sector. Tamil Nadu is an automobile manufacturing hub, often called the Detroit of Asia. Harbouring on this base and evolving forward, the state has climbed up the value chain. The state is targeting an investment of about USD 6 billion and employment opportunity to 150,000 in the EV sector over the next five years. The state released the Tamil Nadu Electric Vehicles Policy 2023, in February and in a follow up to it, along with the World Economic Forum, organised a high-level meeting with CEOs of Global EV companies. The meeting focussed on making Tamil Nadu the global leader in EV manufacturing. The state will work on creating supply chain, infrastructure, skills, ecosystem, circularity, regulatory, subsidies and incentives.
New defence parks
In the aerospace and defence front, Tamil Nadu unveiled its policy in 2022. The state garnered Rs 4900 crore investment within the last two years. The Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor is a prime investment location in India with integrated infrastructure. It has nodes in Chennai, Coimbatore, Hosur, Salem and Tiruchi. There are plans to establish two industrial park in Varapati and Sulur along with a common manufacturing facility.
Fillip to Fintech
Yet another major event in the run up to the GIM was the inauguration of the Fintech city and a Fintech Tower. The city will span over 56 acres with an investment potential of Rs 12,000 crore fostering job creation for 80,000. The tower which is to come up at Nandambakkam will be set up at a cost of Rs 254 crore with an investment potential of Rs 1000 crore and jobs for nearly 7000 persons. It will have a built-up area of 5.6 lakh sq ft with an auditorium to accommodate 250 persons. These are in line with the FinTech Policy that was released in 2021, with an aim to transform the state into a leading global destination for fintech firms by 2025.
The IT and ITES sectors have already moved inroads to Madurai, Coimbatore and there are plans to expand Tidel Parks in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. This will ensure well-spread growth of all sectors throughout the state ensuring well-balanced growth and development.
The state has released several new policies to attract top global companies. It is also proactive and often has talks with industry bodies to update existing policies to suit current trends.
The Guidance Bureau hand holds new companies and also helps existing companies to expand within the state. These have reflected in the Ease of Doing Business ranking and the state has moved up to the third rank from the 14th rank. The GIM is the culmination of all these efforts and it is to happen at an important juncture of the state’s growth trajectory.
