Tamil Nadu may adopt new industrial policy

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu may soon get a new industrial policy. Addressing the CII Tamil Nadu annual meeting, Aneesh Shekhar, executive director of state guidance bureau, said on Saturday that a new industrial policy was in the making with a view to solving problems faced by prospective investors in sectors like battery technology and e-vehicle technology, who will hold a long-term presence in future.
The new policy will also proactively incentivise investment that comes into these sectors, he added.
On the ease of doing business in Tamil Nadu, Shekhar said, "Besides the existing single window system which largely benefits large industries and MSME sector, we are now coming up with a new single window portal - a one stop solution". He said the government was planning to integrate over 200 services on one platform. "We will have an AI-based tool, which will help analyse these applications and avoid wastage of time," he added.
Speaking at the event, state industries minister MC Sampath said the upcoming Fintech city and development of Chennai-Bengaluru and Chennai-Kanyakumari industrial corridors would help improve the state economy. "The TN Industrial Development Corporation is setting up a Fintech city on the outskirts of Chennai. That will help improve the services of banking and other financial centres," he said.
Outlining the progress of the state's economy, Sampath said the special cell for investment promotion at chief minister's office has an empowered committee, which as cleared 36 new projects worth 15,000 crore, which will provide employment to 23,000 people. "Besides, we have brought into effect the TN Business Facilitation Act 2018, information communication technology policy 2018, aerospace and defence industrial policy 2019 and have been a pioneer in launching electric vehicle policy 2019 in the recent times," he said.
Speaking about the success of the Global Investors' Meet 2019, he said out of 304 MoUs, 59 are already in production and 209 in various stages of implementation. "In the past 10 months, TN has attracted 63 new MoU projects and investments from Japan, Germany, South Korea, the USA and UAE. Of them, 5 have been inaugurated," he said.
N Muruganandam, principal secretary for Industries, said the government would focus on industrial growth in southern districts by offering attractive packages to start-ups. He said a polymer park would come up in Ennore soon.
The principal secretary said the Nissan controversy was almost settled. The company said that the state owes them $770 million. "An agreement will soon be signed," said Muruganandam.
On the issue, chief secretary, K Shanmugam said they had discussions with the company which has understood the state's point of view and a settlement will be made to the company.