Tamil Nadu says deals worth over ₹3 trillion signed at global investors’ meet

The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday announced that it had signed agreements amounting to more than ₹3 trillion during the second edition of the two-day Global Investors Meet (GIM).

“The two-day Global Investors Meet has attracted a total investment of ₹3,00,431 crore. The investments would generate employment opportunities for 10,50,000 youth,” said chief minister Edappdi K. Palaniswami at the valedictory event of the investors’ meet in Chennai on Thursday.

He added that along with big industries, this year’s investors’ meet had focused on the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). memorandums of understanding (MoU) worth ₹30,000 crore were signed between the state government and nearly 12,000 MSMEs.

Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL), which signed an MoU to the tune ₹27,400 crore for a 9 million tonne new refinery in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu, is one of the biggest investors.

The next major investor is NLC India Ltd., which agreed to an investment of ₹23,800 crore.

While automobile firms Hyundai Motor India and MRF have announced investments worth ₹7,000 crore and ₹3,100 crore, respectively, the PSA Group and Eicher Motors have signed deals more than ₹1,000 crore each.

The state government also said that it has struck a deal with the Adani Group for a ₹10,000 crore investment.

The government, which released its new Tamil Nadu Aerospace and Defence Industrial Policy 2019 on Wednesday, has also agreed that irrespective of the investment size, the single-window facilitation mechanism under the Tamil Nadu Industrial Guidance Bureau will be available for all aerospace and defence-related manufacturing and infrastructure projects.

On Sunday, just ahead of the GIM, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated the Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor at Trichy.

Palaniswami on Thursday announced that the next edition of the GIM would be held in 2021.

During the first GIM in September 2015 – just months ahead of the assembly polls— the late chief minister J. Jayalalithaa had then declared that the investors’ meet would be held every two years. Following a volatile political situation after the demise of Jayalalithaa in December 2016, the investors meet was delayed.

In 2015, the GIM garnered investments over ₹2 trillion.

However, the state government is accused for failing to bring in investments of more than ₹2 trillion as announced at the first GIM in 2015. Recently, opposition leader M.K. Stalin had termed the investors’ meet as an “eyewash”.