Inviting global investors to take advantage of industry-friendly policies of Tamil Nadu, the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today said the state had set an investment target of $250 billion in the infrastructure sector in the coming years.

“Investment in Tamil Nadu is a sound investment," she said while inaugurating the ‘Global Investors Meet’ and an exhibition showcasing, among other things, the achievements of the state.

Jayalalithaa noted that Tamil Nadu was among the early States to capitalise on economic reforms launched in India in the early 1990s.

She said that under the ‘Vision 2023’ initiated by the State Government, the per capita income of the state will be raised to the levels of higher income countries.

The Chief Minister recalled that automobile giants like Hyundai and Ford had set up manufacturing facilities in Tamil Nadu availing of the industry friendly policies of the state.

The participants at the meet were treated to a glitzy cultural extravaganza including a programme by eminent dancer Urmila Sathyanarayana and her troupe.

The main logo of the global investors meet ‘Pegasus’ was also unveiled on the occasion.

Pegasus is an ancient Greek winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color, showing development.

The Tamil ‘Thai Vazhuthu’ (salutary song) was also sung on the occasion.

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Highways and Ports Pon Radhakrishnan and industry captains including HCL founder Shiv Nadar, Mahendra Group Chief Anand Mahendra and Sundaram Clayton Chairman Venu Srinivasan were present on the occasion.

Ambassadors, High Commissioners and Delegations of partner nations ——— Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, France, Italy, UK, Singapore and the Russian Federation— are also taking part in the two—day event.

“The Global Investors Meet (GIM) has targeted investment commitments of Rs 1 lakh crore which has already been exceeded. I am very confident that further commitments would be made over these two days,” Jayalalithaa said.

Making a strong pitch of her state as an investment friendly destination, Jayalalithaa said it was leading in the areas of textiles, leather, IT, health care, automobiles and auto components, among others.

“The share of our services sector in the economy is one of the highest in India. Tamil Nadu attracts the third highest Foreign Direct Investment in the country,” she said.

“In fact, the foreign investment actually coming into Tamil Nadu would be even more. A significant portion of the foreign investment made in Tamil Nadu is counted against some other states since the Indian head offices of the foreign companies are located there,” she added.

Pro-business initiatives

Detailing her pro—business initiatives, Jayalalithaa said that she had brought out the New Industrial Policy in 1992 which gave a fillip to industrialisation.

“We have constantly updated our policy framework and redoubled our efforts. I launched the latest version of the Industrial Policy in 2014,” she said adding she had fine—tuned sector specific policies for Auto and Auto Components and Bio—technology sectors in 2014.

Her government’s Solar Energy Policy in 2012 had resulted in Tamil Nadu becoming the largest domestic roof top solar energy generation capacity in the country, she said.

Jayalalithaa said the state’s power situation was also looking up as against four years back when “chronic power shortages were a legacy bequeathed to me” when she assumed office then.

A slew of conventional and renewable power generation projects and long term power supply agreements have been entered into to ensure that Tamil Nadu “will not be power scarce at all in the foreseeable future,” the Chief Minister said.

Investment proposals today

HCL to invest over $1 billion over the next five years in southern Tamil Nadu ( Read more here ).

M&M to invest Rs. 2,000 cr in TN ( Read more )

Yamaha to set up a third plant in Tamil Nadu - trial run on now. TVS Motor Company has announced that it would expand its footprint in Hosur while TICEL Bio Park II is also to be set up.

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