CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government has secured fresh investment commitments worth Rs 7,020 crore from German companies during Chief Minister M K Stalin’s week-long visit to Europe, bolstering the southern state’s push to position itself as India’s manufacturing and R&D hub.
At the Tamil Nadu Investment Conclave in Germany, 23 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed on Monday, pledging Rs 3,819 crore in new projects that are expected to generate 9,070 jobs.
Combined with three marquee deals announced earlier in the visit — including Rs 2,000 crore from Knorr-Bremse, Rs 1,000 crore from Nordex Group and Rs 201 crore from ebm-papst — the tally from Germany now stands at 26 MoUs creating more than 15,300 jobs.
Several of the commitments came from existing investors expanding their presence in the state. BASF, Herrenknecht and Witzenmann India, all signed up for new capacity, highlighting what state officials described as confidence in Tamil Nadu’s 'industrial ecosystem' and stable policy environment.
Among the larger announcements, Vensys Energy will invest ₹1,068 crore in a new wind components facility creating over 5,200 jobs.
BASF’s environmental catalyst and metal solutions arm will expand its Chengalpattu operations, while Poland-based Bella Premier Happy Hygiene committed Rs 300 crore to expand its sanitary and medical products plant in Dindigul.
Herrenknecht, the world leader in tunnel boring machines, will enlarge its Chennai facility to serve metro and coastal road projects.
Other investors include Puls, a German power supply specialist; Witzenmann, a maker of flexible metal hoses and joints for the auto sector; and MASH Energy, a renewable fuels company.
The conclave also set the stage for discussions with senior BMW Group executives, where Stalin pressed the German carmaker to deepen its engagement in Tamil Nadu’s electric vehicle ecosystem. BMW cited the state’s EV infrastructure as a competitive advantage.
In a parallel development, Guidance Tamil Nadu signed a pact with Next Mittelstand to introduce Germany’s dual vocational training model in the state. The programme, which will begin with 120 students and scale up to 20,000 within a decade, is aimed at raising workforce skill levels to global benchmarks.
The German leg of Stalin’s European tour will be followed by investor meetings and diaspora engagements in the United Kingdom.