French glass-maker Saint Gobain has begun producing India's first zero-carbon glass. Today, the company's world glass complex located near Chennai accounts for not just a bigger share of global output, but 98 percent of all its products sold in India. Saint Gobain has cumulative investments totaling Rs 3,750 crore in Tamil Nadu, with its most recent investment standing at Rs 500 crore towards a new float-glass line and another one for integrated windows. The company says it wants to expand further.
"We are, at this point in time, discussing (investments) with the government and other related stakeholders," said AR Unnikrishnan, Managing Director (Glass Business) at Saint Gobain India. "We will have investments in glass, plasterboards, in glass-fibre insulation, and solar glass is a good opportunity especially in Tamil Nadu and maybe also in Gujarat," he added, "We are evaluating all these possibilities and take a decision in the coming weeks."
Two full years since the DMK assumed power in Tamil Nadu, the state has seen investments pour in. In the run-up to the Global Investor Summit in January, the Tamil Nadu Government has already inked MOUs with several technology and manufacturing majors. It now hopes to close multi-billion-dollar deals in the next six months.
A few weeks ago, South Korean auto major, Hyundai, which has had a strong presence in the state for over two decades, committed to invest Rs 20,000 crore or $2.4 billion towards manufacturing of electric vehicles at its plant in Sriperumbudur.
"Our investment will be spread over a period of 10 years, and we envisage that it will go into investments made towards these future technologies especially EVs," said Puneet Anand, Associate Vice President (Corporate Affairs) at Hyundai Motor India, "It will further be used towards expanding our existing capacities, and setting up new plant and machinery to augment production from the traditional ICE-based vehicles, and further increase our penetration in the EV market."
The Tamil Nadu government has no plans to slow down. It says the target is to make the state a trillion-dollar economy by 2030. To this end, it has begun pitching for investments from the energy, manufacturing and the automotive sectors, all in the hope to close in on a sizeable investment corpus before the state's global investor summit in January.
For the moment, the pitch seems to be working. Japanese medical-device maker Omron has said it will invest $15.7 million in a new plant at Peruvoyal, near Chennai. Mitsubishi Electric has announced a $230-million investment to make air-conditions in the vicinity, with plans to employ nearly 2,000 people.
In April, Taiwan-based Pou Chen Corporation inked a deal with the Government to set up a unit at an investment of Rs 2,300 crore. The company manufactures products for global sneaker giants like Nike, Adidas and Puma, among others. Other non-leather footwear manufacturers like Feng Tay Enterprises, Hong Fu Group, Dean Shoes Group, Oasis Footwear Sports Gear Co and Zucca also plan to set up units in Tamil Nadu, where they hope to manufacture sneakers, which are fast becoming a market favourite.
The footwear units are set to take shape in the State Industries Promotion Corporation (SIPCOT) campus in Kallakurichi, and signals a move on the part of these sneaker manufacturers from China, to India, also making Tamil Nadu one of the first Indian states to attract Taiwanese sneaker manufacturers.
American telecom major Cisco has also said it would make switching networks and router platforms in Chennai, and has set itself a business target of one billion dollars, while employing 1,200 people. The biggest investment commitment by far, has come from Malaysian energy major Petronas — $4.1 billion towards a 4,000-hectare green-hydrogen project in Tuticorin.
"With a little more push in investments in the state, a lot more can happen," said Kamal Bali Chairman, CII (South), "The Government is investing a lot in infrastructure, and that's good news. Even at the Central Government level, there's a huge investment in logistics, which was one of the challenges when we talk of manufacturing."
However, there are challenges too. As some industrialists point out, Chennai does not find place on the national gas grid — and that can be a problem for some companies. For now, though, other sweeteners like single-window clearances, developed industrial corridors, a large port presence, and the availability of land in industrialized tier-two towns like Tuticorin, Hosur and Krishnagiri are tipping the scales in favour of Tamil Nadu.
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