A “very serious buyer” has been identified for Nokia’s plant near Chennai, a senior Tamil Nadu Government official said here on Friday.
While declining to identify the buyer, V Sankar, Additional Chief Secretary, Industries Department, Government of Tamil Nadu, said Essar’s Shashi Ruia, who was in Chennai recently mentioned that he had looked at the plant, but did not commit.
The plant, which started operations in 2006, was shut down a few months ago following a ₹21,000-crore dispute with the income tax department, rendering thousands jobless. Sankar was speaking at a round-table after a roadshow held here on Friday in the run-up to TN Global Investors Meet 2015, addressed by P Thangamani, TN’s Minister for Industries, Steel Control, Mines and Minerals, and Special Initiatives.
Sankar said while the tax dispute case pertained to an individual company and the Union Government, the State Government is urging that the Centre “should take a call on Nokia quickly, as we want the plant to open fast.”
With regard to Nokia’s proposal to “de-freeze” the plant’s assets, he said “it is a good thing to happen. Once this is done, employment can start.”
An estimated 25,000 people have lost jobs after the plant’s closure last year, with 70 per cent of them women aged between 20-30 years.
With the Global Investors Meet 2015, Tamil Nadu is tentatively aiming at investments worth at least ₹10,000 crore this year in sectors such as new and renewable energy, electronics, engineering goods, automobile sector, textiles, food and mediparks.
The corporates represented in Friday’s meet included Ford India, Nagarjuna Oil, JK Tyre and Apollo Tyres, and Ennore Port.