ACME is buying land for solar installations. Petronas is scouting for 10,000 acres in TamNadu. The third big investment proposal has come from IGSS Venture’s ₹25,600 crore semiconductor park on 300 acres 63% of Tamil Nadu’s ₹1.6 lakh crore investment in FY22-23 is in future energy. And that should speak something about tomorrow. Call it the investment rush. With memoranda of understanding signedfor projects worth more than ₹ 1. 6 lakh crore, FY22-23 was one of the best for TamilNadu as an investment destination. According to the latest data from Guidance Tamil Nadu, the top two
investments – ACME Group’s ₹52,474 crore green hydrogen and ammonia project and Malaysian MNC Petronas’ ₹ 30,000 crore investment in a green hydrogen plant – are in green energy.
ACME is buying land for solar installations. Petronas is scouting for 10,000 acres in Tamil Nadu. The third big investment proposal has come from IGSS Venture’s ₹25,600 crore semiconductor park on 300 acres.The company is looking for a financial partner. Together, these future sector projects comprise 67% of the total investment in FY23. The rest of the big announcements were in sectors where TamilNadu has been traditionally strong: Automobiles, electric vehicles and IT & ITeS (see table). Industry experts say this traditional advantage is in sync with the mega proposals for green energy and semiconductors as well. Says S Krishnan, additional chief secretary, industries: “A significant part of the auto investments are in EV and EV components which is an emerging sector as auto and auto components transition to the next level. Tamil Nadu is building on its traditional strength in automobiles to get into the EV ecosystem. ” Similarly, in IT & ITeS, the state is trying to move up the value chain to get into GCC, engineering centres, design and more advanced work related to R&D, engineering design and even fintech work as opposed to call centres and coding, he says.
And the electronics sector is playing a symbiotic role. “The electronics industry is developing components for cell phones, consumergadgets and EVs,” says Krishnan. “TN’s auto story was built around its strength in the component industry. Similarly, we would like to build on our strength to make TN an electronics hub. ”
Textiles, another core sector, is also in transition. “In textiles two things are changing,” notes Krishnan. “Tamil Nadu’s high capacity in spinning wasn’t getting converted into a proportionate share of fabric and garments. Now more value addition is happening in the apparel and garments sectors in terms of vertical integration, manmade fibre and technical textiles. ”
Industry heads agree that building on existing competence to move up the value chain is the right way ahead. Says T R Kesavan, president, Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industries: “TN has always had a head-start in automobiles and components. Now that competence is attracting investments in electronics, electric vehicles and even semiconductors. ” The state government’s focus on sectors like
automobiles, EVs, electronics, textiles andaerospace is evident from the MoUs signed last fiscal, he adds. The real spin-off from the investment surge will be the trickle down to the MSME sector. Says MSME secretary V Arun Roy: “This (investmenttally) is exciting for the MSME sector as this would mean more opportunities as vendors for the manufacturing side in terms of Read More…
