Al-Kharafi to invest Rs 49,000 cr to set up petroleum refinery in TN

Kuwait-based Al-Kharafi is likely to invest around Rs 49,000 crore to set up a petroleum refinery and petrochemical products facility at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu. The investment is one of the several pouring into the state.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said that Al-Kharafi is expected to set up a petroleum refinery in compliance with BS-VI emission norms adhering to the environmental standard to manufacture petrochemical products.

"This will bring in economic growth in the southern part of the state similar to that which took place in Jurong Island in Singapore and Dahej and Jamnagar in Gujarat," the chief minister said after laying the foundation stone for DLF Down Town Chennai. "I assure the captains of industries present here that we will continue to fully support all your investments in Tamil Nadu."

The state has seen 59 projects begin commercial operations in a year after the second Global Investors Meet held in Chennai last January, while another 213 are in various stages of development. Besides, the electric vehicle manufacturer BYD and major mobile phone designing and manufacturing firm Wintech have also started taking steps to set up their manufacturing facilities in Tamil Nadu, he added.

After the global meet, the state has signed 63 agreements to attract investments around Rs 19,000 crore. After setting up a high-level committee headed by the chief minister, 36 industrial projects worth Rs 14,728 crore have been awarded various approvals to start operations. This will create 22,763 employments.

Foreign Direct Investment into the state has seen an increase of around Rs 47,000 crore in the last three years, pegging it at around Rs 1,80,000 crore now, he added. The state has been constantly attracting new investments across sectors including Information Technology. The recent investments by TCS and Infosys alone, are expected to create 31,000 direct IT sector jobs in the State, he said.