The Adani Group and Indian Oil Corporation took the lead in committing large investments in Tamil Nadu as the State’s two-day investors summit kicked off on Wednesday.
The Adani Group plans to invest ₹12,000 crore across sectors. This was revealed by Karan Adani, CEO, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, while speaking at the inaugural session of the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet 2019 in Chennai on Wednesday.
Of the total ₹12,000 crore, the company will invest around ₹10,000 crore in port and port-led industries (including the expansion of the Katupalli Port in Ennore), industrial parks and defence, and another ₹2,000 crore on pipeline gas distribution.
In his speech, Adani said that if there is one State that every State should be emulating, it is Tamil Nadu. He lauded the State’s balanced economy with services’ share in the State GDP at nearly 45 per cent followed by manufacturing at 34 per cent and agriculture at 21 per cent.“Every business that seeks to grow in India must have a strong presence in Tamil Nadu and we are no exception,” he said in the presence of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and a host of other industrialists.
The Adani Group’s growth journey in Tamil Nadu started seven years ago with investment in the Ennore Container Terminal. Even while the terminal was being constructed, the Group realised that the State was growing rapidly and the company would need greater port capacity, said Adani. The group acquired the Katupalli Port from L&T for ₹1,950 crore in 2018.
“We expect to make this port [Katupalli] one of the largest in the country with a capacity to handle over 300 million tonnes of cargo and make this key enabler to support the growth ambition of Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Tamil Nadu also plays a key part in Adani’s renewable growth story. The company’s major foray in renewable energy started with the construction of the world’s largest solar farm of 640 MW capacity at Kamuthi in Ramanathapuram district at a cost of ₹4,550 crore. This was built in a record six months. This would not have been possible without the support of the Tamil Nadu government, Adani added.
IndianOil investment
Meanwhile, public sector oil major Indian Oil Corporation announced that it will be investing ₹16,641 crore across various projects in Tamil Nadu, which will create direct and indirect job opportunities for 20,000 people.
The proposed investments include expansion of retail outlet network (petrol bunk), upgradation and capacity expansion of its facilities in the State, and two new gas distribution projects.
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