CHENNAI: Deputy CM O Panneerselvam wooed American and Indo-American businessmen and entrepreneurs to invest in Tamil Nadu and said more than 8,000 acres is readily available at various industrial parks and facilities like IT Parks and Medical devices manufacturing parks (Medi Parks).

Speaking at America-India small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) Council Investors Meet in Washington, organised by Elisha Pulivarti, Chief executive officer of US-India SME Business Council, the Deputy chief minister said in all these parks, 20 per cent of the space is allocated to SMEs.

Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO) also develops industrial parks for SMEs. He also said with three submarine cables landing in Chennai with 14.8 TBPS of bandwidth, surplus power availability, and high quality human resources, the State is best suited for data parks and IT establishments.

He said nearly 62 of the Fortune 500 companies are located in Tamil Nadu and the State has the largest number of SME units which generate largest employment in India.  

Seeking closer relationship between SMEs of US and India, he said the highly developed industrial eco-system in the State has attracted many renowned companies like Amazon, IBM, Foxconn, Dell, Ford, Caterpillar and Boeing which are among the top 250 US companies. “All of them need vendors and suppliers who are usually SMEs,” he said.

“Since 2018, Tamil Nadu has issued a new IT Policy, a Start-up and Innovation Policy, a Food Processing Policy, a Textile Policy, an Energy Policy and the Electric Vehicle Policy.  We have a separate single window portal to enable SMEs to obtain hassle-free approvals and clearances.  Nearly 10,000 SMEs have already benefited from this portal,” he said.At the event, he also highlighted the success of Global Investors Meet 2019 wherein the State attracted investment commitments amounting to nearly $43 billion through 304 MoUs.

Published On : 16-11-2019

Source : New Indian Express