HCL group will be investing around $1 billion in Tamil Nadu over the next five years, while the group is also going into robotics and artificial intelligence, said a top official.
Speaking at the Global Investors Meet organised by Tamil Nadu government here, Shiv Nadar, HCL group chairman said: “The group has till date invested around Rs.6,000 crore in Tamil Nadu. Going forward we will be allocating $1 billion for investment in Tamil Nadu over the next five years.”
He said HCL will spread its operations in Madurai and Tirunelvelli districts while expanding its operations in Coimbatore.
Nadar, who started his speech in Tamil, said Tamil Nadu is important for the HCL group as around 35,000 employees out of total 110,000 are in the state. The group has operations in Chennai and Coimbatore.
Nadar also said the group would train around 20,000 youth to make them job ready.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said the state’s first Global Investor Meet has exceeded the investment target of Rs 100,000 crore.
Inaugurating the state’s first Global Investors Meet here, Jayalalithaa said the target of Rs 100,000 crore of investment commitment has been exceeded.
Jayalalithaa said the state has planned an investment of $250 billion in infrastructure under its Vision Tamil Nadu 2023 plan.
“My goal is to ensure that Tamil Nadu’s per capita income reaches that of, upper middle income countries by 2023. The people of this state must have access to infrastructure and services comparable to the best available anywhere in the world. Tamil Nadu will be a knowledge hub for innovation.”
“Tamil Nadu will become the most attractive investment destination in India and one of the three most attractive in Asia. A total investment in infrastructure of $250 billion is planned,” she added.
According to her, implementation of 84 of the 217 projects and programmes identified under Vision Tamil Nadu 2013 has already commenced.
Citing that the per capita income of the state was lower than the national average when she first assumed office in 1991, Jayalalithaa said now it is more than one-and-a- half times the national average.
“We are the second largest state economy in India today. This has not been a fortuitous outcome. It is the fruit of my government’s vision, far-sighted policy-making and effective implementation,” she claimed.
The chief minister said Tamil Nadu has the largest number of factories and largest employment in industry of close to two million people amongst all the states in India.
“Tamil Nadu ranks first in terms of number of new micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) projects registered during 2013-14 with 1,16,393 new units accounting for 32.04 percent of the total new MSME units promoted all over India. During 2014-15 the number of MSME units registered went up even further to 1,43,104,” she said.
Jayalalithaa said the government has come out with Tamil Nadu Investment Promotion Programme (TNIPP) with the assistance of the Japan International Co-operation Agency.
She said TNIPP effectively aligns the policy priorities of the government with the expectations of investors.
Stressing on balanced industrial growth across the state, Jayalalithaa said the government has come out with an attractive package of incentives to encourage investors to invest in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu.
“A ready to occupy land bank of 42,000 acres is available for industry. I had also recently ordered that for investment commitments made in the state all necessary final clearances shall be accorded within 30 days. This re-establishes Tamil Nadu as a State that focuses on effective delivery without the accompanying hype,” Jayalalithaa said.
Citing the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data, Jayalalithaa said the total incremental investment proposed in the state during April 2011 to June 2015 is Rs.2,61,709.92 crore.
“From May 2011 to date the state government has facilitated 86 investments, with a cumulative investment of Rs.43,101.81 crore through Memoranda of Understanding and Single Window Facilitation,” she said.
IANS
