Industry welcomes Jayalalithaa's return

Says acquittal will pave way for increased stability, but accessibility to the top leadership is a concern

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The Karnataka High Court's acquittal of J Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate asset case has brought in a sigh of relief from the corporates. The acquittal of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) supremo would hasten the administrative process in the State, said sources.

While welcoming the verdict, the Southern India Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SICCI) Jawahar Vadivelu, president SICCI said that the acquittal will pave way for increased stability, which industry in this region critically needs and this will have cascading effect on the plans announced earlier to position the state on the high growth path even amid the global uncertainty.

A senior official from a multinational company, which has interest in automobile, said that the order took away the “uncertainty” part in the state, considering literally there was no leadership in the State and industries had no where to go in the last seven months.

“Now we got a person who got a power and can take the decision, but only issue is accessibility. The state got enormous potential and it can do extremely well, if the leadership give priority to the industry also,” said another industry official.

Jayalalithaa's comeback will also give boost to some of the major infrastructure projects. Some of the projects which are waiting to get inaugurated include the Rs 15,000 crore metro rail project, foundation stone laying for Jayalalithaa mooted monorail project, Madurai-Thoothikudi industrial corridor, around 250 low cost canteens, flagging off of around 500 new buses.

The one event which everybody is looking forward is Global Investors Meet (GIM), which was originally scheduled for May now postponed to September 9 and 10. The state set a target to attract investments worth Rs 1 lakh crore during GIM.

Even a two-wheeler manufacturing unit and a consumer durable unit did not make their commercial production officially. One of the units went on stream recently and officials have said that it was just a soft launch.