Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government said Thursday that it has secured fresh investment commitments worth Rs 67,452 crore through 97 company-level MoUs at the inaugural Vettri Tamil Nadu Investment Conclave, with the potential to generate more than one lakh jobs across 16 sectors. The latest MoUs, the government claimed, push cumulative commitments in the TVK-led government’s first 100 days past the Rs 1-lakh crore mark.
Industries Minister S. Keerthana, who has been driving the outreach, said both new entrants and existing players are doubling down on Tamil Nadu.“Greenfield tells us new investors are choosing Tamil Nadu for the first time. Brownfield tells us something more powerful, that companies already here are choosing to expand,” she said, reiterating the ambition of a USD 1.5-trillion economy by 2036 built on higher-value manufacturing, R&D and innovation rather than volume alone.
The conclave, said the government, saw 25 companies making their first investment in Tamil Nadu. Separately, seven institutional agreements were exchanged across trade, MSME development, drone training, technology transfer, and semiconductor skilling.With many new players entering into MoUs with the government, analysts asked if the companies are genuine and have undergone a verification.Political analyst Sumanth Raman questioned the authenticity of Lighthouse Green, a firm investing in a data center in Thoothukudi. “Share capital 1 lakh. Company formed 4 months ago. Registered office is an apartment Tiruvallur. Multiple red flags,” he wrote on X.DMK, too, expressed similar concerns. DMK spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan told ThePrint that many companies making investment commitments are lesser-known. “We should check the credibility first. We don’t know whether these are true are not,” he said.According to the government, Tamil Nadu’s attractiveness as a global investment destination was reflected in 30 foreign-headquartered projects, representing Rs 22,268 crore in FDI commitments and 38,357 projected jobs. The source of these commitments spanned 16 countries, including Australia, Germany, Japan, France, Singapore, South Korea, the United States, Sweden, Taiwan, Denmark, Malaysia, Italy and Switzerland.Japan’s YKK, the world’s largest zipper maker, for instance, is investing heavily in Tiruvallur, while France’s Saint-Gobain is reinvesting in float-glass capacity. Germany’s Bitzer is making its India entry with HVAC compressors, while US IT giant Supermicro is establishing server assembly operations. Singapore’s Ascendas Firstspace is expanding its industrial-park footprint with Korean firms dominating the auto-component space. Commitments from Taiwanese, Danish, Swedish and Sri Lankan companies also appeared in footwear, wind-energy castings, airbags and apparel, among other sectors.
