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Mineral-based industries : The
main mineral wealth of the state is granite,
limestone and lignite. The availability
of different varieties of granite in
different parts of the state has resulted
in a booming granite industry. Over the
years the granite industry has grown contributing
to more than 35% of the country's exports.
The current annual production of cement
is over 5 million tonnes. Lignite is
being used to
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generate
power. Graphite is yet another mineral offering
opportunities for downstream industries.
Engineering : A
strong engineering base exists in the state
involving products ranging from automobiles,
bicycles, castings and forgings, to textile
machines, electrical and non-electrical machinery,
pumps and transportation equipment, engineering
ancillary industries all of which are concentrated
in Chennai (Madras), Coimbatore,
Salem ,etc. The exports
of engineering products from Tamil Nadu is
around Rs.14.50 billion (US $ 320 million) of
which automobile ancillaries alone contribute
around US $ 150 million. It is an established
fact that the automobile industry in the
state accounts for
nearly 50% of the all
India export
market. The strong engineering base consists of a network of nearly 3,000 units,
employing a skilled workforce
of more than 2.5 lakh, making high quality inputs such
as castings and forgings and a wide variety of ancillary products. Intensive
efforts are being made to boost further development of this
industry. |
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Textile
and ready-made garments :
Tamil Nadu has
etched a name for itself in the manufacture
of cotton textile and its leading position
in this area is well known not only in India but
the world over. The state contributes to
more than 22% of the country's exports
of cotton yarn and fabrics. The exports
of cotton textile in 1999-2000 was US
$ 4.0 billion and it had reached US $ 5.0
billion by the end of 2001-2002 AD. USA, UK, France and Germany are
among the principal buyers of cotton textile
from Tamil Nadu.
Approximately 22% of India's
exports of ready-made garments originates
from Tamil Nadu. In actual terms it translates
to around US $ 1.5-2.0
billion of garments being exported from
the state, the two main centres being
Chennai (Madras)
and Tirupur. In fact, Tirupur has
emerged strongly as a major industrial
township. As a consequence, several important
spin-off
industries have emerged in the neighbouring
regions - the textile machinery industry
is one such
off-shoot. While
Tamil Nadu continues
to maintain a commanding position in this industry,
many international corporates,
are looking towards the state as a global sourcing
point for readymade garments with an eye on the
comparatively low production costs and high quality
of output offered. |
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Leather-based
industries :Ideal
climatic conditions for the growth of fruits
and vegetables has given rise to a vibrant Agro-based
food industry in the state. The Madurai-Dingidul
belt in Tamil Nadu is endowed
with favourable climatic
conditions ideal for the cultivation of a variety
of fruits and vegetables. SIPCOT has promoted
an Agro park at Nilakottai, Dindugul.
The floriculture industry is also poised for
a quantum leap in the next few years with the
area around Coimbatore,
Dharmapuri, and the Nilgiris being
earmarked as places ideally suited for the cultivation
of flowers like Rose and Chrysanthemum - of these Coimbatore has
been identified as an intensive floriculture
zone. Realising the
tremendous potential in the state, a number of
joint ventures involving Dutch companies are,
being
set up in the area - some involving major corporates.
Govt. of Tamil Nadu has introduced innovative policies
like Contract farming policy and Bio-technology policy. TIDCO is developing a
floriculture park: TANFLORA at Hosur and 6 BIO-valleys
including a Genomics centre and a Bio-incubator park in
collaboration with cornell
University,USA. |
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Chemical
and Petro-chemical industry :The
chemical industry has grown at a tremendous
pace world-wide and in India as
well. The state of Tamil Nadu traditionally
has a strong base in the chemical industry.
Manali, in the outskirts of Chennai (Madras)
has emerged as a major petro-chemical complex.
The mother refinery in the complex, Chennai
(Madras)
Refinery Ltd., has given rise to several
petro-based units using a refinery feed-stock
for the manufacture of a large number of petro-chemicals
ranging from fertilizer to polyols, nylon chips and polybutanes. Major chemicals
and fertilizer plants have also
been established at Cuddalore and Tuticorin. Major projects in the pipeline
are: LNG terminal at Ennore, Nagarjuna refineries
at Cuddalore, SPIC (PTA/PFY), etc. TIDCO is currently
in the process of setting up a major petrochem park
in an area of about 7,000 acres at Ennore, north of
Chennai. TIDCO has also proposed to promote a Naphtha Cracker in this park;
besides,
currently implementing a LNG handling terminal at Ennore Satellite
Port. Based on LNG terminal, a number of down-stream petro-chemical projects
have been planned. Apart from the upcoming
refinery at Cuddalore, two new refineries
are proposed to be set up at Nagapattinam, and Ennore. Petrochemical industry
in Tamil Nadu is
in the thresholds of a rapid expansion. |
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Electronics
- A new and Upcoming Industry : Electronics
is an industry which is getting priority
attention in recent years with a turnover
of US $250 million. Apart from computers
and associated hardware, there has been a
boom in consumer electronics giving rise
to a wide range of consumer products.
Software
development is currently a US $ 670 million
industry in Tamil
Nadu with
several foreign companies entering into collaboration
and joint ventures. Today, Indian software professionals
are considered among the world's best. Chennai
is fast emerging as the second Silicon
Valley. Chennai has the largest number
of Software professionals in India-currently
about 32,000 employed in 767 IT companies. Chennai
has several highly skilled professionals as computer
science & software development have been
introduced as a part of the curriculum in almost
every technical educational institution in Tamil
Nadu.
Chennai has the largest mainframe computing capacity
besides being the center for development of advanced
multimedia applications & communications
software. A number of major companies like Cognizant
technologies, TCS, Pentafour, Ramco, Infosys,
Wipro, Masscon, Alcatel, inautix, Singapore
Airlines, Citibank,etc.
have software development facilities at Chennai. Recently,
World bank has decided
to set up its back-office operations in Chennai.
To
give an impetus to this industry, the Govt.
of Tamil Nadu had recently announced an attractive
Information Technology
Policy wherein attractive incentives and infrastructure
support were offered by Govt. to investors. TIDCO & ELCOT
of Govt. of Tamil Nadu have promoted TIDEL Park-the
state-of-art facility with a built up area of
12.8 million sq.feet.
This Park achieved 100% occupancy within 4 months
of its commissioning. MNCs like Computer Associates,
Ford, EDS, etc., have taken space in this. Enthused
by the success of TIDEL
I, the state government is embarking on TIDEL
II. Apart from this, currently the Govt of Tamil
Nadu is in the process
of setting up Information Technology Parks with
state-of-the art facilities at Coimbatore,
Trichy, Madurai,etc.
To improve communication, state govt. is part
funding earth stations at Trichy, Madurai and
Thirunelveli.
Chennai is the landing station for 2 submarine
cables from singpore and
the bandwidth available there is 10.6 tbps |
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