Chennai: Amid the ongoing hectic task of preventing the spread of coronavirus pandemic, the Tamilnadu government, in a big push to industrial development, today inked MoUs with 16 companies involving an investment of more than Rs 5,000 crore and creating more than 6,500 jobs.
The MoUs were signed at the State Secretariat in the presence of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.
The new projects to come up in Kanchipuram, Chengalpet, Dindugul, Tiruneveli, Chennai and Coimbatore districts involved a total investment of Rs 5,137 crores and would create 6,555 new jobs.
While six MoUs were signed directly, the other ten were done through video-conferencing. Of the 16 MoUs, seven were from US companies who had committed to invest in the State through American Tamil Entreprenuers Associaton during the Chief Minister’s visit to the United States in September last year.
Today’s inking of pacts comes in the backdrop of the state government signing 17 MoUs with companies from Germany, Finland, Taiwan, France, South Korea, Japan, China, USA, Australia, the United Kingdom and The Netherlands on May 27 attracting Rs 15,128 crore investments and 47,150 new jobs and eight more pacts
on July 20 with eight firms attracting Rs 10,399 crore investments and creating 13,507 jobs.
The MoUs were signed in the backdrop of Projects Today, an independent firm that tracks investment projects in the country, stating Tamil Nadu has emerged as the country’s top investment destination in the first quarter of this financial year, at a time when fresh investment announcements in India slumped to the lowest in five years amidst a period marred by the extended pandemic- induced lockdown.
An official release here said at a time when the world economy has taken a hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was slowly recovering from this critical situation, the State government, in a bid to upgrade the industrial development and to make Tamilnadu the leading state in industry, has been taking various steps.
Recalling the recent steps taken by the government, including formation of ‘Special Committee to attract Investments’ headed by Chief Secretary K Shanmugam and the one headed by former RBI Governor Dr C Rangarajan to revive the state’s economy post COVID-019, the release said in continuance of the efforts to take the State on developmental path and thanks to conducive industrial climate, several new investment plans were being implemented in the State.