March 3, 2011 in Investment Destinations by admin
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is the 11th largest State with an area of 1,30,058 Sq km out of country’s total area of 3166416 Sq km and the third most urbanised State next to Maharashtra and Gujarat. It is located in the south eastern side of Indian peninsula with Kanyakumari as the southernmost tip of the land. This tip is the meeting point of Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian sea. Tamil Nadu has a long eastern coastline dotted with enchanting beaches with Bay of Bengal in the east. It is bounded on north by Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, on the west by Kerala, on the east by the Bay of Bengal, and on the south by the Indian Ocean.
Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, is the gateway of South India with an international airport, sea ports and good rail and road network connectivity. Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchirappalli, Salem and Tirunelveli are some of the other major towns in the state. The state has large number of good educational institutions and is one of the leaders in the field of Science and Technology and particularly in Information Technology.
Investment Policies and Incentives
In order to attract investment into the various sectors of the State and thus contribute to the development of the economy as a whole, the government of Tamil Nadu has made several policy announcements. These policies have unveiled a roadmap and graphed a trajectory for bolstering the industrial climate of the state and remove various road blocks which hampered the industrial expansion of the state. These policy documents also envisage the investment incentives and schemes for the investors.
The major being the industrial policy , announced with a mission to accelerate human development in Tamil Nadu by maximizing investment, output, growth, employment and manufacturing competitiveness through infrastructure and human resources development in industries and services sectors. The key objectives of the Industrial Policy are to:-
?Position Tamil Nadu as the most attractive investment destination.
? Facilitate industry capturing a larger share of world
trade in goods/services.
? Reform regulatory processes and remove procedural hurdles in business.
? Enable integration of existing industrial clusters with global supply chains.
?Build efficient and dependable industrial infrastructure.
?Develop human resources and intellectual capital to world standards.
?Encourage symbiosis with SMEs in major industry clusters.
Another important policy being the information technology policy , which has the vision of putting a smile of prosperity on the face of every citizen of Tamil Nadu by leveraging information technology (IT) to create value and wealth for a knowledge-based State. The Key objectives of the policy are to:-
?Establish the state as the destination of choice for IT investments
? Upgrade the quality of life for the citizens through e-governance and IT applications in government.
?Empower people in the rural areas so as to bridge the digital divide.
?Develop research and development initiatives.
?Promote use of Tamil in information technology.
Similarly, the information technology enabled services (ITES) policy has been announced with the vision of making Tamil Nadu the Global ITES Capital; attracting increased foreign direct investments; creating large-scale employment opportunities and adding value and wealth by leveraging the inherent strength of the State. Its objectives are to:-
? Get the maximum global ITES investments to Tamil Nadu
? Develop Human Resources specific to ITES Sector
? Create world class infrastructure for IT & ITES and an enabling frame work for protection of intellectual property and data
? Generate employment and other ITES opportunities in major cities in Tamil Nadu
? Provide a conducive environment for the sector by reducing regulations and increasing opportunities.
Besides, a biotechnology policy has been announced with the objective of utilising the resource base of the State for its overall economic development. As per the policy, the Government of Tamil Nadu aims to facilitate the establishment of Biotechnology Enterprise Zones (Bio-Valleys) along the lines of Silicon Valley to exploit the bioresources of the State. Also efforts will be made to encourage the establishment of different types of biotech entities consisting of research organisations, service providers, as well as companies which will commercialise the new products and processes.
Investment Opportunities
Tamil Nadu is one of the well-developed States in terms of industrial development. The State Government is focused on stimulating further industrial development, attracting investment, facilitating new manufacturing capacity and enabling global manufacturing competence and competitiveness of local industry. Tamil Nadu has emerged as a front ranking State in attracting investments.
Software & Electronics
Tamil Nadu has witnessed substantial growth in IT, ITES, BPO and IT Hardware manufacturing sectors. The number of Software Units in the State is also growing rapidly. The rapid rise in the number of national and international players that have chosen to establish their business establishments and manufacturing facilities as well as the expansion of the activities of the established firms in this State is a firm indication that Tamil Nadu has emerged as a preferred destination for domestic as well as foreign direct investment. Leaders in the Indian IT sector like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, HCL, Patni Computers, I-Flex, Polaris and Hexaware as well as a galaxy of international majors – Accenture, Verizon, Xansa, Office Tiger, Standard Chartered Bank, ABN Amro, Alcatel, Cognizant Technology have established their operations in Tamil Nadu.
Agro and Food Processing
Tamil Nadu has rich resource endowment. Fruits such as Mango, Banana, Citrus Fruits, etc., and vegetables & spices are abundantly available. Food Processing & Floriculture identified as thrust sectors by State Government for special incentives. Owing to the ideal climatic conditions a strong agro-based food industry has emerged in the state. The state is a world leader in agricultural production with a high yield per hectare of sugarcane, rice and groundnut.
Chemicals and Petrochemicals
The chemicals industry has grown rapidly in India and overseas. The state traditionally has a strong base in chemicals industry. Manali, situated on the outskirts of Chennai, has emerged as a major petrochemical complex. Leading Producers like Orchid, being the third largest manufacturer of sterile cephlosporin, Dadha Pharma, Malladi, Citadel, etc. have set up in Tamil Nadu. Tamilnadu is the ideal location for: (i) contract manufacturing (ii) global sourcing base(iii) process engineering for products going off patents (iv) manufacture of generic and other bulk drugs & formulations. Petrochemical industry in Tamilnadu is in the threshold of rapid expansion.
Biotechnology
Tamil Nadu is rich in bioresources. The variety of geographical terrains in the State provides tremendous biodiversity rarely seen in any other single State. The forest, agricultural and plant resource base of the State are both large and diverse and represent great market opportunity for biotechnology products. There are more than 5,000 species of flowering plants and the forest cover in the State spreads over 22,500 sq.kms. The State also has one of the largest coastlines in the country which again presents opportunities for marine biotechnology. The State is also fortunate to have a pool of experts in various areas of biotechnology with experience in commercialisation of biotech products. Tamil Nadu is thus well-placed in terms of human resources to exploit the opportunities in biotechnology. Investment opportunities exist in all the four segments of biotechnology, namely, (i) Medical / Human & Animal Healthcare; (ii) Agriculture; (iii) Food; (iv) Environment; and (v) Industrial Products
Automobile Sector
The state has a well-developed automotive and auto component industry. It is the hub of Indian automobiles industry. Several automobile and automobile ancillary units are located in Tamil Nadu. It has manufacturing facilities across the automotive spectrum from tractors to battle tanks. Global auto majors like, Hindustan Motors and Mitsubishi have commenced production plants. Ashok Leyland and TAFE have set up expansion plants in Chennai. Fortune 500 companies such as Hyundai and Ford have established manufacturing facilities in the state.
Infrastructure
Tamilnadu has made tremendous progress in infrastructure development. Infrastructure development of Tamil Nadu is rated as “one of the Best” by several independent studies. Tamil Nadu is in the forefront of the Indian sub-continent in providing an efficient transport services to the people. Transport facilities is a basic ingrain in a modern society in bringing people together and for the improvement of the society. The Tamil Nadu Government, with its transport corporations provides various types of services like metro, mofussil, express, ghat services etc. to bring the people together from the nook and corner. Tamil Nadu offers state-of-art telecom infrastructure for high speed large volume data transfer, video conferencing, etc. to meet the requirements of software / BPO companies.The Government has encouraged private sector participation in the process of infrastructure development. This has resulted in rapid expansion of railways, roadways and capacity enhancement of the ports.
