CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has laid a roadmap for future investments as it marketed itself as the leading investment destination in India at the World Economic Forum. Unlike last year, the state delegation, including industries minister Thangam Thennarasu, industries secretary S Krishnan and Guidance Chief Executive Officer Pooja Kulkarni, is focussing this year only on networking and not signing memoranda of understanding.
“We’re looking at actual investments. Our conversion rate is high and we are choosy this time to ensure that investments happen,” said a top industries department official. Pooja Kulakarni, MD and CEO, Guidance, told TNIE that the investor response has been good. This year’s theme ‘Cooperation in a Fragmented World’ resonates well with the state as TN is well connected to the global supply chain, she said.
The Tamil Nadu delegation led by minister Thangam Thennarasu, who was invited to speak at the WEF, met Chief minister MK Stalin on Tuesday and briefed him about the development. This year, Tamil Nadu’s participation in the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2023 at Davos is much bigger and has drawn greater global attention to the remarkable economy and industrial ecosystem of the state, the industry department official said.
There has been a lot of interest among CXOs and CEOs about investing in the state. Even industries minister in his speech ‘Navigating the Next Chapter of the Fourth Industrial Revolution’ outlined Tamil Nadu’s spectacular industrial growth chart, its prospering and stable economy, and the state’s emergence as a global manufacturing hub. The minister spoke about TN as South Asia’s first and only Advanced Manufacturing Hub (AMHUB) and how the state is leading from the front in the global switch to Industry 4.0 technologies, the official said.
Officials are hoping the attention garnered during WEF would woo more participation during the Global Investors Meet (GIM) next year. The crucial aspect of TN’s investment promotion push at Davos was a series of meetings with key leaders around the world, government agencies to explore fundamental investor interest in their respective countries.