VIDYA SETHURAMAN
India Post News Service
SAN JOSE, California: “Tamil Nadu, with its vast industrial base, hosting 18 per cent of the country’s institutions of higher learning, and quality of living, is the best investment destination in India today”, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami told a group of investors and Tamil diaspora in San Jose, Bay Area, California.
Tamil Nadu has seen impressive growth over the years, backed by excellent social indicators and availability of a skilled workforce. A day after 16 US companies in New York signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for investments worth Rs 2,780 crore in Tamil Nadu, 19 other US companies signed MoUs with the state government September 4 for investments worth Rs 2,300 crore in the San Francisco Bay area. The Chief Minister and his delegation was received at the San Francisco International Airport by Sanjay Panda, Consul General of India in San Francisco.
The companies that signed the MoUs include Lincoln Electric, Wearable Mems, Caldon Biotech, ZL Technologies, Kapisoft, Kloud Learn, Sierra HealthAlerts, Acts Global Tech Solutions, Ripe.io, Latent. ao, Achireum, Nature Mills, SAi, ACSGlobal Tech Solutions, Dotsolved Systems Inc, TIE Global, USISPF, Google X and DCF Ventures.
The Chief Minister said these 19 MoUs would lead to the creation of more than 6,500 jobs in Tamil Nadu. The meet in San Jose saw the participation of over 250 investors, including officials of firms like Foxconn and Zoho Corporation, who have already invested in Tamil Nadu. After the investors’ meeting, the Palaniswami, ministers and officials met the Tamil diaspora of California.
Tamil Nadu secured the second rank in the 2018 “Growth, Innovation and Leadership (GIL) Index for Economic Development in India”, a data-driven framework developed by Frost & Sullivan. Tamil Nadu’s high rank was an outcome of its impressive scores in health improvement, digital reach, educational attainment, and investment attractiveness pillars.
Tamil Nadu contributes 45 per cent to India’s motor vehicle/car exports and has a well-established automobile industry ecosystem and is called the “Automobile Capital of India”. The state is a leading exporter of IT/ITeS in India. It has the largest talent pool in the country with about 59 universities, 517 engineering colleges and 447 polytechnics. The state adopts online single-window clearances in a time-bound manner.
Palaniswami said the Global Investors Meet 2019 attracted investors from all over the world and 304 MoUs were signed pledging projects worth over $43 billion. The state’s main exports include automobiles and auto-parts, textiles, leather products and electronic goods, the Chief Minister said, adding that to take Tamil Nadu to the next level, the government has taken several steps, such as “a state-supported ‘Alternative Investment Fund’ to facilitate investment by global investors in the area of economic infrastructure.
In his address at the investors’ meet, Palaniswami highlighted the business-friendly atmosphere in Tamil Nadu and pointed out that state Nadu is a favorable destination for investments in the sectors of fintech, aerospace and space.
Palaniswami embarked on a three-nation tour last week, saying the visit was aimed at garnering more foreign investments for Tamil Nadu. Earlier, he had visited the UK and would stopover in Dubai en-route to India, where he would meet potential investors.
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