VILLUPURAM: After laying the foundation stone for the first factory at the dedicated footwear park set up by SIPCOT on 634.42 acres of land at Pelakuppam village near Tindivanam in Villupuram district on Tuesday, Chief Minister MK Stalin said the State will soon come out with a leather and footwear policy.
The unit set up on 167.41 acres of land by Lotus Footwear Enterprises Limited at a cost of Rs 500 crore is expected to offer employment to 6,000 people. "The State government is implementing various schemes to prove that we are not second to anyone in education, job opportunities, economy, industrial development and social competence," Stalin said.
"In 2006, in the presence of then CM Kalaingar, a MoU was signed and in 2009, I laid the foundation stone for the company in Cheyyar. This company started that unit with a Rs 300-crore investment and gave job opportunities to 5,000 people. Now, its investment has increased to Rs 2,000 crore and it employs 35,000 people," the CM said.
"Seventy percentage of jobs in this industry were given to women and they are going to invest Rs 1,000 crore more. I am proud, that an agreement signed by Kalaingar and a company, whose foundation stone was laid by me, has grown to this level in 13 years," he said.
"After the DMK came to power, several new industries came to Tamil Nadu in the past 10 months. They choose our State because we provide all support. During the rule of Kalaingar, industries including car, mirror, electronics, and footwear, were inaugurated by him, and now, I am laying the foundation for further expansion of these industries. This is an example of good rule," he said.
"In the leather industry, 250 people will get jobs for each crore of investment and so if investment increases in this industry, job opportunities will also grow. This will strengthen the State's economy. I heard companies like Nike produce eco-friendly products. I request the company to extend its production to non-leather products too. During my visit to Delhi, I met the PM and urged him to utilise manufacturing clusters in Tamil Nadu and introduce Production-Linked Incentive schemes to increase footwear manufacturing and exports," he said.
"In 10 months of our rule, we have brought in `68,375 crore investments and signed 130 MoUs to create 2,05,402 jobs. According to a report by the Centre's industry and commerce department, foreign investment at national level went down 16 per cent compared to last year. But in Tamil Nadu, foreign investment has increased by 41.5 per cent compared to previous year," the CM said.
"This is a big achievement. I request investors to take part in the State’s journey to achieve trillion-dollar economy by investing in various districts and by utilising the talents of Tamil youth. This is not my government; this is our government. We are ready to extend all support to you," he added.