Tamil Nadu signs MoU with Kanagawa Govt in Japan

The MoU signed to promote economic co-operation

The Tamil Nadu government has signed an MoU with the Kanagawa government in Japan. The MoU was signed to promote economic co-operation with Kanagawa, home to global Japanese majors including Nissan, Toshiba, Canon and Sony.

The MoU was signed by  Kiyosaku EBINA, special assistant to the governor, Director General, Industry and Labour Bureau, Kanagawa Prefectural government. He was leading a delegation of seven companies.

Speaking at the Kanagawa Business Seminar, organised by the CII along with Jetro and Kanagawa Industrial Promotion Centre here, state industries minister P Thangamani said, Japan was the fourth largest investor in India and Tamil Nadu was one of the major beneficiaries through the Japanese investment.

The number of companies operating in Tamil Nadu stood at 286 in October 2011 and increased to 600 in October 2014. There are 3,000 foreign JVs in Tamil Nadu, according to the minister.

Major Japanese investors in Tamil Nadu include Nissan, which invested Rs 4500 crore along with Renault, Toshiba (Rs 800 crore along with Kindal), Unipress (Rs 300 crore) Mitsubishi, Komatsu and others.

"Today, Chennai has the largest number of Japanese companies in India accounting for 21 per cent," said Thangamani, stating that the State Government would extend all support to Japanese companies.

He noted, the state Government had sanctioned Rs 186 crore to improve the road connectivity to Ennore Port to meet the requirements of Toshiba.

Kanagawa Prefecture is located in the metropolitan area which occupies 40 per cent of Japan's economic scale. Major sectors in Kanagawa include automobile, electronics and electric, information and communications, biotechnology etc.