Tn Seeks Cii Help To Develop Industrial Estate

The state government has also accepted the CII-Tamil Nadu committee's proposal for forming a cooperative society in the Maraimalar Nagar Industrial Estate, according to industry minister M Chinnasamy.

The minister disclosed this while delivering a special address to the CII-southern region meeting with career diplomats, honarary consuls and overseas trade representative here.

The state government decision to seek the partnership of the Confederation of Indian Industry for developing the area assumes significance as Maraimalai Nagar is the place where it has agreed to allot 200 acres of land to Ford Motors for setting up its car plant.

Last week, Ford officials had come to meet state government officials. Tamil Nadu is pitching hard to sell the state's plus points to attract the Rs 2,000 crore plus investment that the US auto major proposes make.

 

Although Ford Motors has not yet firmed up their plans, the state is hopeful of bagging the project because of its excellent advantages in port and communication facilities, highly-skilled labour and the peaceful industrial relations in the state.

A decision by Ford Motors, according to a top government official, is expected by the end of September.

The occasion also marked the release of a CII-compiled publication Doing Business in Tamil Nadu, which briefly outlines the special features of the state and its industrial policy.

The industry minister said the state already has one of the best infrastructure facilities available in the country.

Yet, it will continue to concentrate on issues such as energy, transportation, availability of water and urban infrastructure.

Tamil Nadu is a major producer of sugarcane, rice, tea, timber, sandalwood, limestone, mica, bauxite etc.

Also textiles, spinning and weaving, cotton, automobile ancillaries, machine tools, leather and leather goods and textile machinery are among the well-established industries in the state, he said.

We are initiating far-reaching structural reforms to lead the industry in the state away from a regulatory and protective regime to a free market-oriented, competitive and globalised environment, he said.

He said the state has taken the initiative to build new power capacity to meet the expected demand and has been pushing ahead with a massive energy development programme.

Chinnasamy urged the captains of industry to diversify and take full advantage of the liberalised policies.

In this context, the minister underlined the importance of upgradation of production process and modernisation of units.

State industry secretary C Ramachandran said CII's initiative to provide greater thrust to the industrial growth of the state was welcome as they had shown the lead to even state agencies to become more dynamic in their approach.

CII Tamil Nadu committee chairman M Kalidas said CII-SR plans to hold inter-active sessions periodically with foreign consuls and overseas trade representatives selectively in small identified groups to inform and educate them on merits of investing in Tamil Nadu and other southern states.

CII-Southern region chairman E K Parthasarathy said the chamber was setting up a total quality management institute in Karnataka as a centre of excellence which can provide the right training and approach to entrepreneurs.