CHENNAI: Continuing its push to take industrial development to districts that remained below the radar for decades, the State government on Thursday cleared 15 industrial proposals to manufacture a range of products from footwear to ships and missiles, with a total investment of Rs 34,237 crore.
The projects have the potential to generate about 55,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Besides greenfield projects, the list of proposals that were cleared by the State Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister MK Stalin also includes expansion of automobile major Hyundai, and Gensol Engineering, which provides engineering, procurement, and construction services for solar power sector.
The biggest among them are Evervan Kothari’s Rs 5,000 crore investment in Ranipet to manufacture footwear for German giant Adidas, and Kaynes Circuit India’s Rs 4,995 crore investment to set up an electronic component manufacturing unit in Thoothukudi.
Equally noteworthy is the Rs 4,500 crore that Jeanuvs is pumping into Thoothukudi. Beyond the quantum of investment, what stands out about the project is that the unit would manufacture components for radar, artillery, missile, etc.
Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Industries Minister TRB Rajaa pointed out that the units that would come up in Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai, Krishnagiri, Tiruchy, Karur, Ramanathapuram, and Thoothukudi show the government's commitment to balanced industrial development across the State.
These new investments, he said, would help take industrial growth beyond Chennai and its neighbouring districts.
Rajaa cited the example of Tata Group’s Rs 9,000 crore Jaguar-Land Rover (JLR) plant in Ranipet, the first unit by the marquee luxury automobile company, which Chief Minister Stalin would inaugurate on February 9, to drive home the point that the State was not only attracting investments on paper, but was also moving fast to assist in the execution of the projects.
Also, he recalled, the State government had faced criticism at the time of signing a memorandum of understanding with Vietnamese firm VinFast.
Rajaa added that similar efforts were made to realise the Ranipet car manufacturing unit.