A host of new sectors is expected to feature prominently in the list of MoUs (memorandums of understanding) that will be announced by the Tamil Nadu government at the second edition of its two-day Global Investors Meet (GIM), which kickstarts here on Wednesday.

While such summits by several States have highlighted large and mega investments, particularly in the manufacturing sector with a promise of huge job generation, Tamil Nadu’s GIM promises to be inclusive this year with the State machinery supporting investments across segments open to any entrepreneur with plans to invest more than ₹10 crore.

In the first edition of GIM in 2015, the State government, which was headed by the late J Jayalalithaa, signed up close to 100 MoUs across seven departments that included industries, energy, MSME, IT and agriculture.

While the government said it garnered total committed investments of ₹2.42 lakh crore, manufacturing and energy-related investments accounted for ₹1.04 lakh crore and ₹1.07 lakh crore, respectively.

The year’s MoU list will have projects across hospitality and tourism, healthcare and hospitals, educational institutions, retail infrastructure and solar parks. The construction sector will see as many as 50 MoUs under CMDA or related departments.

“In all our road-shows, ₹10 crore was the limit for the medium-scale industry. We had promised to facilitate anyone who invested ₹10 crore and above, in terms of approvals. This has made a lot of difference,” K Gnanadesikan, Additional Chief Secretary, Industries Department, Government of Tamil Nadu, told BusinessLine . The State government has also ensured that the companies had a commitment in the range of 2-5 years for stability.

A mix of all

“It’s a mix of everything this time — greenfield, brownfield, technology-intensive, construction-related, tourism, hospitals, educational institutions. These projects bring in more jobs. If someone is setting up an international school, why shouldn’t we support them? We have undertaken big IT parks, construction projects and retail parks,” he added.

For the players investing under ₹10 crore, the MSME Department will handhold them. While the State has traditional strengths in the manufacturing sector, it has a strong services economy, too. Tamil Nadu is among the four States that have the highest number of taxpayers under the GST.

Hence, the State has been campaigning to promote a dozen sectors promising a better ecosystem for investors.

The State machinery has been working hard to at least garner the investment achieved last time, if not more. With its plan to facilitate projects across categories, the investment number is likely to look bigger, this time.

However, the State government should also work actively after announcing the MoUs to ensure the projects take off at the earliest as Tamil Nadu is in dire need of jobs as the ranks of the unemployed swells.

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