Rs 22,595 cr so far initiated from TN's Global Investors' Meet

State govt signs investment memoranda with various companies for 45 projects that it assures will be fast-tracked

Tamil Nadu government has said that 45 projects worth around Rs 22,595 crore has so far been initiated from the investment memoranda the government has entered with the companies in the Global Investors' Meet, 2015. The government has taken all steps to support the companies, which signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the State government during the GIM, to set up their facilities without delay, said Industries Minister P Thangamani.

Responding to the allegations of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Supremo M Karunanidhi, arch rival of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the minister said that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has inaugurated or layed foundation stone of projects worth Rs 15,112 crore from 14 companies in January 29, 2016. Further Rs 6,539 crore worth projects from 19 companies has started industrial units and another 12 projects worth Rs 953 crore are ready to start operations, he added.

The State government, in a two-day GIM conducted in September, 2015, has entered into MoU with 98 companies for investments worth Rs 2,42,160 crore and has promised necessary approvals to be issued within 30 days.

In the last five years, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has given approval to 4,059 companies to invest Rs 1,57,475 crore to start projects and the state electricity board has provided 1,834 MVA of additional power to the high tension customers. In the last five years, around 5,32,819 approvals were given related to start micro, small and medium units and the MSME has invested around Rs 88,354 crore to start units. The government has signed 33 MoUs to brin in 31,706 crore, while the previous government lead by DMK has only attracted Rs 21,126 crore through MoUs during their tenure, he added. Karunanidhi, in the interim budget of 2011, has said that his government has attracted around Rs 52,195 crore investment to the State and claimed that this was higher than the investments made during the AIADMK government's tenure.

DMK chief has raised allegation that the government has failed to convert investment proposals into tangible investments. Karunanidhi, refering to a comparison between the investment proposals under the Industrial Entrepreneur Memorandum (IEM) filed with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Government of India, and the actual investments reported in the same data, which was comparitively miniscule.

Responding to this, the minister said that most of the industries which file IEM s do not update their actual investments as they have no compulsion to do so in the liberalised era after 1991. Even if they file their intention to invest, many of them do not update the actual investments, he said citing examples.

For instance, German automobile major Daimler has announced investment of Rs 4,000 crore, which was reflected in the DIPP document, whereas the company has not updated the DIPP that it has invested Rs 5,289 crore in Tamil Nadu till 2015. Similarly, Japanese automobile major Yamaha has announced plans to invest Rs 1,500 crore, in an MoU with the State government on May, 2012, and has so far has invested around Rs 1,260 crore, but has not updated the DIPP. The central government owned Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd has entered into MoU with the State government during the GIM, to invest around Rs 2,740 crore, and has invested around 1,600 crore so far and it has not informed DIPP about this, he added.

The same DIPP data shows that from April 2000 to March 2011 has seen Foreign Direct Investment inflow of $7.3 billion and from April 2011 to Dececember 2015 it has went up to $13.94 billion, which at current conversion rate, is equal to Rs 83,766 crore. Between a short period of April 2015 to December 2015, the State has attracted $4.3 billion FDI, it claimed.

According to a report of National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in March, 2016, Tamil Nadu is in third position after Gujarat and Delhi NCR, based on various parameters including the skill availability, infrastructure and political stability.

The Minister also said that according to the same data of DIPP, which Karunanidhi relies on, states that during 2007, when his party was ruling the State, the IEM intentions filed was for Rs 27,102 crore and the actual investment was Rs 1,561 crore. In 2008, the intentions filed was Rs 24,506 crore and actual investment was Rs 1,365 crore, in 2009 the intentions filed were of Rs 66,864 crore and the actual investment reported was Rs 1,267 crore, and in 2010, the intentions filed were for Rs 38,595 crore, while the actual investment reported was of Rs 1,374 crore. He asked whether Karunanidhi will accept these actual investment numbers as the total investments made during those period.