Ahmedabad: Terming Tamil Nadu as ‘silent performer’ at Tamil Nadu government’s seminar in Ahmedabad today evening, M Velmurugan, executive vice chairman of the Tamil Nadu Industrial Guidance & Export Promotion Bureau today invited investors from Gujarat to participate in Global Summit which is scheduled to be held in capital Chennai on 23-24 January next year. He said criteria for signing a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) has been cut from Rs 250 crore previously to Rs 10 crore in upcoming summit.

Speaking about the ‘silent performer’ Tamil Nadu, Murugan said, ‘ Tamil nadu has highest number of factories and highest number of workers employed in factories. The State has highest urbanization rate. It has highest number of operational and exporting Special Economic Zones(SEZs) at 38, the State has highest number of engineers graduates and diploma holders annually, it has highest renewable energy capacity and generation. The State was third in over all exports, in gross industrial output and fourth in Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) inflow. The State is second largest state economy in India with State growth rate greater than national growth rate.’

‘The State has 3,000 foreign companies including 600 Japanese and 350 Korean companies. It has 40,000 expats. Export intensity of TN is 35-40% against 10% in other states. Tamil Nadu is third largest exporter of software. Industries such as cotton textiles, leather, IT, auto, electronics are export intensive. Ford has witnessed fourth expansion in Tamil Nadu. It is going to start a Research and Development(R&D) centre in TN in 2019 with 12,000 employees. Units that come to TN, expand in TN repeatedly. The State is power surplus and it has unique provision of ‘dual feeder’ for units that need more power. Ford, Daimler are some of such units that have been given dual feeder. The State promises 24/7 uninterrupted power to industries. The State has four major ports. At Chennai port, turnaround time is one-day. TN has four international airports. Three submarine cables land at TN providing 14.8 TB/second bandwidth which is ideal to set up IT industry at Chennai. This bandwidth is sufficient for next twenty year plans. TN had started engineering education in public private partnership(PPP) model very early. TN has more than 500 engineering and over 500 diploma engineering colleges. Every year 1 million skilled force come out from these colleges. The State has long industrial history. For an example, Ford car was first manufactured in year 1948. The State today is among ten top automobile manufacturers worldwide with installed capacity to produce 4.82 million two-wheelers, 1.64 million cars and 2,18,000 trucks. TN manufactures 35% of India’s total auto components. TN is number two in electronics manufacturing. The State would be number one in this sphere if Nokia plant is revived, efforts for which are going on. Nokia had stopped production in TN due to Income Tax related litigation.’

‘TN has passed a law under which any application received gets approvals in 30-day period. If approvals are not granted in 30 days, the are deemed to be granted, so that investor may go ahead with his plans.’

Speaking at a seminar in Ahmedabad, M Ponnuswami, Chairman of Confederation of Indian Industries(CII), Tamil Nadu said this is the State where even Chief Secretary can be communicated on Whatsapp and issued are addressed. Giving an example of State’s willingness to serve, Ponnuswami said, ‘a multinational company had an issue with road passing through their land. The company wanted a road to be shifted outside its plot area. The government approved this demand in net 12 days.’

Additional Chief Secretary to Industries department, IAS Thiru K Ganadesikam addressing the seminar said, ‘we address the problems of individuals. We treat the cases individually and not as per general policy. Existing industries are not second-class citizen for us. We serve existing as well as new industries. TN is consuming State. Difference between projected and actual GST revenue has been just around 2%. We don’t indulge just in talks, we have Rs 2,000 crore provision for investment promotion. For major investment we have incentives on SGST depending on area and ammount of investment. Whatever Tamil Nadu promises to deliver in MoU, it stands by for and delivers for sure.’

Speaking at the seminar, Adani Port CEO Ennarasu Karunesan said Adani will open another port in TN on October 20 which is Ennore Terminal. He gave details of Adani’s investment and experience in Tamil Nadu.

M.C.Sampath, Minister for Industrial Department, Government of Tamil Nadu also addressed the event.

DeshGujarat