Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday met with Tamil Nadu’s leading industrialists as the Centre continues with its efforts to tackle the economic slowdown.
After meeting various businessmen representing sectors such as textiles, construction, sugar and others on Tuesday, Sitharaman continued her interactions with the industrialists to hear their issues and concerns relating to the slowdown across sectors.
She met with at least a dozen industrialists who represented some of the top companies from this region.
The businessmen who met the Finance Minister included KM Mammen, Chairman and Managing Director of MRF; N Srinivasan, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of India Cements; PR Venketrama Raja, Chairman of Ramco Cements; Gopal Mahadevan, Chief Financial Officer of Ashok Leyland; Srivats Ram, Managing Director of Wheels India; TT Srinivasaraghavan, Managing Director of Sundaram Finance; and RG Chandramogan, Chairman and Managing Director of Hatsun Agro Product.
Arun Jain of Intellect Design Arena; Sunitha Reddy of Apollo Hospitals; Sanjay Jayavarthanavelu of LMW; T Kannan of Thiagarajar Mills; and Padmaja Chunduru, Indian Bank’s MD and CEO; were among those who attended the meeting.
Sitharaman met the industrialists to seek their views on the sector-specific issues impacting at the ground level.
The industrialists were given adequate time to voice concerns and the possible measures to tackle the slow down, said sources.
Sitharaman’s meeting with the businessmen in Chennai also comes at a time companies such as Ashok Leyland are battling with production cuts on the back of one of the worst demand slowdowns the commercial vehicle sector is facing.
The slowdown in the auto sector has also led to several companies laying off their contract workers and temporary staff in the region.
A couple of industrialists, with whom BusinessLine spoke, described the meeting as “Great and productive.”