Chennai: Chief minister M K Stalin on Thursday pitched to investors the govt’s measures to improve ease of doing business, saying he tracks all industrial investment commitments through a real-time dashboard and cited this as the “reason for the state materialising agreements in a short duration”.“Everyone is wondering how Tamil Nadu is materialising these commitments. The answer is fast and single-window clearance,” he said at the Conversion Conclave, a report card presentation of investments since the govt came to power in 2021. Amid criticism from opposition parties, the govt said it materialised 73.53% of 1,179 projects committed since 2021, with 35.11% of projects now operational.
The chief minister signed two new agreements worth 5,000 crore in investment, according to the govt.Speaking at the event, he said, “We will not satisfy ourselves with investors’ conferences and news headlines, but will ensure that youngsters get offer letters.” Laying out the govt’s working style, he said, “After a memorandum of understanding is signed, we enter them in our dashboard, which I myself track, with various data, including the location, required land parcels, departmental approvals needed, and whether they are approved on the promised dates. We close the dashboard only when they start production. Even if there is a minor delay, we set up a meeting with the chief secretary and urge the department official to approve it on the table.”Stalin said he often holds discussions about the dashboard with industries minister T R B Rajaa. This is the first time a state has conducted a conference to showcase the conversion, he noted.The chief minister also highlighted the govt’s setting up of 30 Sipcot parks, creating more than 16,000 acre land banks and establishing Tidel and Neo Tidel parks across districts.“With chip design centres and chip equipment parks in Coimbatore, the state is becoming a key hub of the global chip ecosystem. The govt is making more efforts to support further growth in the sector,” Stalin said.Rajaa said the govt’s focus is always on job creation and location of industries rather than the quantum of investments. “We have created 29.63 lakh jobs over the last four years, as per union govt data. The northern region received about 41% of the projects, the southern region got 36%, while the central and western regions received about 15%-20%. This is due to difficulty in acquiring land,” he said.The next focus is on life sciences, shipbuilding, deeptech, semiconductor and tourism, he said, adding that MoUs signed during Stalin’s foreign trips have a conversion rate of 69.56%, and almost 83% of the commitments made during the global investor meet in 2024 have been realised. However, the govt did not share the list of projects or a breakdown to support the statement.
