Tamil Nadu set for more Japanese investments; MoUs on the board

Tamil Nadu government would soon be signing memoranda of understanding with several Japanese companies as Japanese companies are interested in taking up several projects in the state, chief minister O Panneerselvam said on Friday.

He was speaking after deliberations with the Japan-India Business Cooperation Committee (JIBCC), led by its chairman Muneo Kurauchi.

The delegation discussed the industrial rail corridors to be set up between Chennai and Bangalore and Madurai and Tuticorin, which Japanese companies are reportedly interested in developing.

Kurauchi said a delegation from Tamil Nadu will visit Japan to promote the Global Investors Meet to be held in Chennai in March 2015 to Japanese investors. He said the JIBCC would do its best to support the delegation. He said out of the 1,072 Japanese companies in India, 523 were in Tamil Nadu.

The chief minister highlighted the objectives of his Vision 2023, which aims at making TN a global manufacturing hub. He recalled a MoU signed with the Japanese External Trade Organisation and Government of Hiroshima Prefecture. A similar MoU between the Guidance Bureau and Kanagawa Prefecture Government was signed on 13 November.

Masayuki Taga, senior regional coordinator, South West Asia division, Asian affairs department, MOFA, Takeshi Akagi, secretary general, JIBCC, Chikara Shimizu, manager in chief, international division, the Japan and Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Masanori Nakano, Consul General of Japan in Chennai, were among those who took part in the discussions.

Chief secretary Mohan Verghese Chunkath and other senior officials represented the Tamil Nadu government.

In 2011, Tamil Nadu had 286 Japanese firms doing business in the state; and in two years, the number rose to 523. It must have crossed 600 by now, chief minister Panneerselvam said, adding that a few more Japanese companies decided to make substantial investments in the state, and the government would soon sign MoUs with them.

Japan was keen on developing infrastructure, including roads, ports, power and industrial parks, which would make it easier for small and medium enterprises to invest even more in Tamil Nadu, Kurauchi added. He also emphasised that a team from the state should visit Japan ahead of the Global Investors' Meet slated for May next year.

''We have been getting many enquiries from Japan, and towards the GIM meet we would be signing some MoUs,'' said a senior official.