The Hindu Business Line : ‘Social infrastructure, local investment, key to development’

Madurai, Dec.8 Creation of social infrastructure and confident investment by local entrepreneurs for bold and big investments to follow from outside, are the two necessary factors for the industrial development of south Tamil Nadu.

The above impressions came to the fore at a CEOs’ Panel discussion on ‘Infrastructure Vs Incentives – The Key for the industrial development of South Tamil Nadu’ held as part of the two-day “SPEED 2008’ Conference (Southern Prosperity through Enhanced Economic Development), organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry(CII), Madurai Zone.

‘Identify promising sectors’

Participating in the panel discussion, Mr Venu Srinivasan, Vice-President, CII, and CMD, TVS Motor Company Ltd, said that creation of social infrastructure is necessary to attract foreign investment and the Government should provide incentives to companies for establishing the infrastructure, such as educational institutions, golf courses, etc. The southern districts should first identify the promising sectors and then approach the government for specific incentives to attract the target group. The vast coastline of southern districts with shallow and gentle sea could be exploited to promote tourism so also the vast ghats and jungles to promote organised trekking, he added.

Increase competitiveness

Mr M.F. Farooqui, State Principal Secretary, Industries, said the priority of an investor changed depending on the stage of the life cycle he is in and generally, when investors have to choose any one location among several others that offered equal opportunities, invariably the particular location that offers incentives gets chosen.

The Government has to create infrastructure that helps industries increase their competitiveness, observed Mr R Seshasayee, Past President, CII, and Managing Director, Ashok Leyland Ltd, and added that in the context of the southern districts, the important need is to provide incentives to create strong social infrastructure such as hospitals and schools. Also, incentives can happen only in the region that can generate more growth potential.

Mr George Eapen, CEO, Apollo Speciality Hospitals, stressed the need for support from the government in allotment of land within the city limits at reasonable cost and uninterrupted power supply, round the clock, to run sophisticated operation theatres and ICUs. The Government should encourage opening of more nursing colleges, he added.

Scale up investment

The southern districts have a fairly high literacy rate, good air connectivity and the local industry should come forward to scale up investments and set up new industries in the region to attract people from outside, said Mr K Venugopal, Joint Editor, The Hindu Business Line.

In his address, Mr Narayanan Ramaswamy, Executive Director, KPMG Advisory Services (P) Ltd, said the top factors that helped regions successfully attract foreign investment included low taxation as compared to neighbouring regions, productivity levels and skills, and capabilities of the workforce.

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