CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has attracted investments worth over Rs 9 lakh crore in the last three years and generated 31 lakh new jobs, Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Tamil Nadu Investment Conclave held in Chennai, Stalin inaugurated 19 new projects worth Rs 17,616 crore and laid the foundation for 28 projects valued at Rs 51,157 crore with an employment potential of 1.06 lakh jobs.
“The fact that more than 130 Fortune 500 companies have chosen Tamil Nadu for investment stands testimony to the state’s ability to attract investments,” the CM said. He exhorted the industrialists who participated in the event to become ambassadors of the state to attract more investors to Tamil Nadu.
“This is a very important day in the industrial and development history of Tamil Nadu. It is a day that showcases our economic prowess to the world, and a day to realise that Tamil Nadu has a bright future,” Stalin said. Industries Minister T R B Rajaa said that Tamil Nadu is the number one destination for investors who come to India.
“Global investors who come to India look for a safe working place for women, infrastructure, and a proper governance model and government in place. Tamil Nadu offers them all,” Rajaa said.
The biggest investment that was realised after the signing of the memoranda of understanding (MoU) at the recent Global Investors Meet is the Rs 36,238-crore green hydrogen project of Singapore-based Sembcorp planned in Thoothukudi for which the foundation stone was laid by the CM on Wednesday. The project will result in the production of India’s first green hydrogen molecule at the plant to be set up on 160 acres of land belonging to VOC Port in Thoothukudi.
‘TN is frontrunner in realising India’s green hydrogen ambitions’
About 200,000 metric tonnes of green hydrogen per annum will be exported to Japan in the form of green ammonia, a Sembcorp official said.
The off-take agreement, signed recently in the presence of Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Prahlad Joshi, for the Singapore-facilitated cross-border export of green ammonia from India to Japan represents the first such collaboration in the industry.
The agreement is between Sembcorp Green Hydrogen Pte Ltd, Kyushu Electric Power Co, Sojitz Corporation, and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha. Vipul Tuli, Chairman (south Asia) and CEO , Hydrogen Business, Sembcorp Industries, said, “Tamil Nadu is a frontrunner state in realising India’s green hydrogen ambitions. Sembcorp is honoured to be part of this historic moment”
The other major investments include pumped storage units to be set up across Tamil Nadu by renewable energy major Greenko Group at an investment of Rs 20,114 crore and the Tamil Nadu Engine and Innovations Centre planned in Coimbatore at an outlay of Rs 400 crore by the state government in association with TIDCO and TATA Technologies.
Hyundai Motor’s dedicated hydrogen innovation centre at an investment of Rs 180 crore at the Thaiyur campus of the IIT-Madras, and Rs 700 crore investment by Hiranandani Greenbase Industrial and Logistics Park on 211 acres of land in Oragadam, which is expected to generate 1,000 jobs, are the other important projects
