The Tamil Nadu Government would host a Global Investors’ Meet (GIM) in Chennai on May 23 and 24 next year to highlight the State’s potential as a global hub for manufacturing.

Ahead of the meet, to be held at the Chennai Trade Centre, discussions would be held with potential investors from the identified sectors to finalise their investment plans so that a number of MoUs can be signed during the event.

In a release issued today at Chennai, the Government said the State was a `favoured destination’ for centuries in different fields — art, culture, trade or education and was the only State in the country to have `produced three Nobel Laureates in Science’. With a view to showcase its potential as an investment destination, the State Government will invite investors to the Global Investors’ Meet (GIM) to be held on May 23 and 24, 2015, at the CTC.

Explaining the strides made by the State in industrial development, the statement said it has developed into the `second largest State economy in India’, having the highest number of factories and factory workers and the state’s capital Chennai has emerged as one the world’s biggest auto clusters, attracting global giants such as Hyundai and Ford, apart from being home to Indian companies such as Ashok Leyland and TVS. The State had also become the country’s largest exporter of electronics goods and was also in the forefront of traditional industries, including textiles, leather and engineering goods.

Referring to the `Tamil Nadu Vision 2023’ unveiled by J Jayalalithaa when she was the Chief Minister in 2012, the release said that the Government had set itself the goal of increasing the share of manufacturing to 22 per cent in the State’s economy. It specifically seeks to make the State the `most favoured manufacturing investment destination’ in India and among the top three investment destinations in Asia. As part of the `Vision Tamil Nadu 2023’ mission, the State has identified 217 projects and programmes in diverse infrastructure sectors, which it expects would give a boost to investment by the private sector.

During the two-day GIM, the State Government intends to highlight sectors such as electronics and electronics hardware, textiles, agro and food processing, IT/ITES, biotechnology & pharmaceuticals, automobiles and auto components, chemicals and petrochemicals, engineering and heavy engineering, infrastructure, including roads, minor port development, power, industrial parks & SEZs, urban infrastructure and renewable energy.

It has also planned to organise a world-class exhibition highlighting Tamil Nadu’s competitive strengths, the opportunities for investment, the areas of collaboration, investment facilitation mechanisms and financial support during the event. It expected `partner nations’ such as Japan, the US, France, Germany, the UK and South Korea and partner organisations to participate in the show.

Ahead of the major event in May, the Government also plans to hold discussions with potential investors from the sectors chosen to finalise the investment plans, paving the way for signing of a number of MoUs. The statement mentioned JETRO (Japan External Trade Organisation), USIBC (US-India Business Council), KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency) as some of the partner organisations for the GIM. The Government would ink deals with industry bodies such as CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and MCCI.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) will be the knowledge partner for the mega event and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Guidance & Export Promotion Bureau (Guidance Bureau) will act as the secretariat for conducting it. The state expects the GIM-2015 to make Tamil Nadu the `Global Hub for Manufacturing’ and push the state to the `numero uno’ position (in industrial development), the release said.

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