The first meeting of State Manufacturing Competitive Council (SMCC) began on Friday with the State Government officials seeking the views of industry bodies in five areas to fine tune the sector specific policies that impacted manufacturing, strengthen the manufacturing base and to sustain the momentum.
Policy discussions were held in the fields of automotive and auto-components, clean energy, minerals, granite processing and bio-technology. The draft policy would be ready by February and it would be placed at the next meeting with the National Manufacturing Competitive Council (NMCC) officials, said Principal Secretary Industries, Rajeev Ranjan.
Talking to reporters, he said that it was also decided to set up the Visionary Leaders For Manufacturing (VLFM) institute in Chennai with the help of CII and IIT Madras at a cost of Rs.1.90 crore to create future business leaders and to collaborate with NMCC on all issues that impacted manufacturing.
He also said that Hyundai Motors has submitted a Rs.1,500 crore expansion plan to the State Government that included setting up of diesel engine plant and components and expansion of Irungattukottai plant. Further details about the project would be announced next month.
Chairing the first meeting, Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said that Tamil Nadu was in the forefront of manufacturing sector due to conducive investment climate, infrastructural facilities and industrial policies among other things. However they cannot rest on the laurels as other states were competitive.
Delivering the chief guest address at TN Summit on ‘Sustaining manufacturing leadership of Tamil Nadu' organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said that Tamil Nadu would continue to foster leadership and would continue to lead in manufacturing as well as in other fields.
The State Government was willing to fine tune the schemes as per the future needs of the industries and was ready to allocate more funds.
Mentioning that developed countries shifted their manufacturing base to low-cost countries, Mr. Stalin said “India and China attracted more investments in the fields of industrial production. Out of the investments committed for India, Tamil Nadu should aim to get a majority of them…All the stakeholders should take steps in this direction.”
In his special address, CII-SR deputy chairman T.T. Ashok called for the early completion of the Anna International Airport; providing more connectivity to Coimbatore and Madurai airports; four-laning of district highways, widening of Ennore Highway and increasing power generation capacity.
“We should come out with the Manufacturing policy soon as it would be the trump card to attract more investments. Moreover, importance should be given for strengthening the MSME sector,” he said.
CII-TN chairperson R. Nandini said “State Government and academia should create an environment that will enable creation of scientific knowledge applicable to manufacturing, fostering the engineering leaders of tomorrow and gradually building respect for technology-related activities. These three are closely linked to each other. A critical mass of such leadership is necessary for the movement to sustain itself.”
