82% MoUs with investors turned into actual projects past 10 years: TN govt

Refutes reports that only 9.4% of investment proposals in the state were converted to projects during that time

The Tamil Nadu Government has said that the conversion rate of MoUs with investors into actual projects during the last 10 years has been about 82.4 per cent.

The conversion rate of 98 MoUs signed during Global Investors Meet (GIM) 2015 was 72 per cent, while that of 304 MoUs signed during GIM 2019 was 89 per cent.  

The conversion rate refers to projects that have commenced commercial production or are at various stages of implementation (such as purchase of land, application for clearances or trial production) as a percentage of the total number of MoU projects, said the State Industries Department. It refuted reports that only 9.4 per cent of the investment proposals in the state were actually converted to projects in the past 10 years. 

The Department said Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had issued CTO for 26,309 new industrial projects for commencing their production during the past 10 years. Tangedco has given 1,164 new HT connections the past three financial years alone. 

Gross State Value Added (GSVA) of Tamil Nadu in the manufacturing sector has grown at an average rate of 12.7 per cent in the past five years. In addition, the state's economy has been consistently growing above the national average rate, making it one of the most attractive investment destinations. 

 

On the data with the Industrial Entrepreneurs Memorandum (IEM) filing in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the State said this is a system through which prospective investors can upload their investment intention and can subsequently report the actual investments. It has been observed that only a section of genuine investors file IEM. Some non-genuine ones may also make filings. There is no system to ensure that all investors file in the DPIIT website, there is no compulsion to file and only a fraction of the actual investments are captured in the IEMs. Moreover, there is no way of verifying whether the claims made by the so-called investors are correct.  Hence, any analysis based on IEM data do not provide an accurate picture of the investment scenario. 

The State administration said that since 2011, Tamil Nadu government has signed 500 MoUs till 2019 with an investment commitment of Rs 5,97,753 crore.  Out of these MoUs, 412 MoU projects have either commenced commercial production or are in various stages of implementation amounting to an impressive conversion rate of 82.4 per cent.

There are various indicators other than the MoUs to suggest the accelerating industrial growth in the state. The manufacturing Gross State Value Added (GSVA) of the state has grown at an average of 12.7 per cent in the past five years. The number of "Consent to Operate (CTO)" issued by TNPCB has been increasing steadily since 2011-12 and till date, 26,309 CTOs have been issued as may be seen below. TNPCB issues CTOs only to projects which have been completed and are ready to operate. 

Similarly, 1164 High Tension Power connections to industries have been given in the last three financial years.  All these data confirm the leadership position of the Tamil Nadu in the country in attracting investment.