soaring white Pegasus — the flying horse from Greek mythology — flew across different worlds and landed at the feet of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, before bowing to her. This, at last year’s Global Investors Meet, left her amused and the audience in raptures.
The Pegasus might as well have been a phoenix — to indicate how Tamil Nadu’s electricity situation was resurrected from the doldrums it was wallowing in when the AIADMK stormed to power in 2011.
Industries in the State were crippled by innumerable power cuts — scheduled and unscheduled — and power rationing compelled many large, and even small and medium-sized companies, to work at night, resulting in job losses and financial problems. The power crisis now seems like a bad dream that went away, with the State shoring up its power resources and becoming a power-surplus State.
The investors’ meet might have been just a show-and-tell event where the who’s who of Indian industry and some foreign investors were present. However, there were murmurs from the industry and politicians about the event coming at the fag end of the government’s term.
The State though has some impressive figures to show. In the last five years, the government has signed 131 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with an aggregate investment of Rs 2.77 lakh crore. Of the MoUs signed at the GIM, 19 worth Rs. 6,540 crore have fructified and operations have commenced providing employment to 16,901 people, data accessed by The Hindu show. But the most interesting data is the flow of foreign direct investment into Tamil Nadu since 2011. It has risen more than four-fold from Rs. 6,711 crore to Rs. 28, 023 crore in 2015, according to RBI data.
While things seem promising, many in the industry complain about the inaccessibility of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. “Forget meeting the Chief Minister. Even getting a meeting with the Chief Secretary is quite difficult,” an industry member said on the condition of anonymity.
“The last five years have not seen any substantial change in the business climate. There are no visible signs of progress among the entrepreneurial community. Corruption continues unabated,” TiE Chennai president R. Narayanan said.
Industrial belts in Tamil Nadu have their share of problems that have been not been addressed — loss of jobs, lack of infrastructure, high cost of land, pollution and issues of VAT, and GST. Corruption is another major issue.
In Tirupur, Erode and Coimbatore districts, which together form one of the largest textile clusters in the country, pollution is a major issue. While the ‘Zero Liquid Discharge’ (ZLD) facility has become operational in Tirupur, a large number of textile units in Erode have been forced to shut down or have been sealed off by the government.
“There were 1,538 textile units in Erode two years back. Now there are only 328 units operational. These are the ones that have implemented ZLD. The others have been sealed or shut down. The cost of implementing a ZLD plant is huge for small textile units,” said N. Sivanesan, president of the Federation of All Trade & Industry Associations in Erode district. The outflow of effluents has also had an impact on the Noyyal, the Cauvery, and the Kalingarayan canal, he added.
The exorbitant cost of land also has investors, especially small industries, worried. “Small industries should be able to buy land at an affordable cost. But, even TANSIDCO, which is a promotional agency and not a profit making agency, is selling land at market rate. How will companies invest in such a scenario,” asked C.K. Mohan, vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Small and Tiny Industries Association.
At Sriperumbudur, more than 25,000 persons lost jobs, alleged CITU State president A. Soundararajan. The closure of the Nokia unit, which also affected its ancillaries, led to many job losses. “Even automobile firms are now playing hard. They pay low wages and contract workers not being made permanent. Some companies are moving to Sri City which is luring investments from Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Irrespective of which party comes to power, the industry hopes that all issues, even minor ones, are addressed. Else, investment may start moving out to other States.
( With additional reporting by Soundariya Preetha in Coimbatore)
The industry hopes that all issues are addressed. If not, investment may move out of State
