Tamil Nadu has signed investment pacts worth more than $6.40 billion with firms such as Apple, suppliers Tata Electronics and Pegatron, as well as auto companies Hyundai Motors and VinFast.
Apple is counting on India as the next big driver of its growth as the tech giant looks to diversify some production away from China, with Pegatron working towards a second factory in the country where Tata Group last year began to assemble iPhones.
Tata Electronics, a part of the Indian conglomerate, committed to invest 120.8 billion rupees for mobile phone assembly operations, the state government said during the signing of the agreements.
"The Tamil Nadu government will support investors in every way possible," Chief Minister M. K. Stalin said at the event, adding that it sought to play a major role in India's growth.
Tamil Nadu’s chief minister MK Stalin has set a target of building a $1tn economy in the state by 2030.
Pegatron, Apple's Taiwan supplier, will also invest 10 billion rupees to expand production, the government added.
Separately, Tata Power is exploring investments up to 700 billion rupees in Tamil Nadu over the next several years,including investments made in some existing projects, its chief executive officer and managing director Praveer Sinha said at a press briefing at the event.
The pacts, unveiled at a meeting of global investors, are projected to generate thousands of jobs in the state.
Sunday's deals in Tamil Nadu include an agreement with JSW Energy to invest 120 billion rupees to develop renewable energy projects.
Auto major Hyundai Motors also committed 61.80 billion rupees, some of it earmarked for electric vehicle (EV) battery and car manufacturing, the government added.
On Saturday, Vietnamese EV maker VinFast agreed to set up its first manufacturing facilities in India and work toward an investment of up to $2 billion in Tamil Nadu, as more companies seek to penetrate the world's third-largest vehicle market.
The EV producer, founded and run by Vietnam’s richest man Pham Nhat Vuong, said it intended to commit $500mn in the first phase of the project and would begin building the plant in Thoothukudi in the southern part of Tamil Nadu this year.
VinFast and the Tamil Nadu government signed the memorandum of understanding at an investors’ conference at the weekend in the state capital Chennai.
The carmaker said it hoped the factory would become a “first-class electric vehicle production hub in the region” with the capacity to build 150,000 cars but gave few details of its plans. It said together with Tamil Nadu’s state government, it would “work toward a total investment of up to USD 2 billion”.
Tamil Nadu is India’s biggest exporter of electronics and a hub for its automotive industry. Among the other groups that announced investments in the state at the government-organised Global Investors Meet on Sunday were South Korean carmaker Hyundai and Indian EV and ride-hailing company Ola.
Last year sea connectivity between Tamil Nadu and Eelam was revived after a hiatus of 40 years, coupled with flights between Chennai and Jaffna the two Tamil regions will benefit from greater economic connectivity which has often been stifled by the Sri Lankan government.
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