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NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 15:

        Chennai is the second largest market for mobilephones in the world and this had prompted leading phone-makers to set up manufacturing units in Tamilnadu, M Velmurugan, director, Tamilnadu Industrial Guidance and Export Promotion Bureau, said here yesterday.

        He said this at the inaugural function of a seminar on 'Participative Alliances for Business Development with Alabama Business Development Mission' organised by the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

        Velmurugan said Chennai had become one of the affordable cities in the world to set up manufacturing units owing to factors such as the availability of skilled manpower at low cost.

        He further said the dismantling of the licence quota raj after the liberalisation of the economy in the 1990s had ushered in an industrial and investor- friendly climate in the country. He said Chennai had made rapid strides in information and communication technology of late. 'Chennai has become the nerve centre in this technology with a band width of 13.52 tbps (terra bytes per second) which is the largest in the country,' he added.

        Hilda C Lockhart, director for International Trade, Alabama Development Office, USA, said,' India is an important trading partner for USA as it presents itself as a great, potential market.'