Southern TN emerges as south India's next export hub

State has signed MoUs worth ₹30,100 crore during a recent investors' conference, promising 46,450 jobs; several big-ticket projects in the pipeline

- C SHIVAKUMAR @ Chennai

SOUTHERN Tamil Nadu is fast emerging as South India's new industrial and export powerhouse, buoyed by a wave of large-scale investments and targeted state policy. The launch of Vietnamese electric vehicle giant VinFast's plant in Thoothukudi earlier this month has set the tone, drawing in capital and industry to districts including Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Kanniyakumari, Virudhunagar, Tenkasi and Madurai, creating what officials call a "significant economic corridor" in the state's south.

For the southern region alone, the state has signed MoUs worth ₹30,100 crore during a recent investors' conference, promising 46,450 jobs. MSMEs have pledged an additional ₹1,261 crore, with plans to create 1,000 jobs. Under the Naan Mudhalvan skill initiative, 350 people have been trained, with 250 of whom now working in training roles at VinFast.

Several big-ticket projects are in the pipeline. Singapore-based Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) is investing ₹4,953 crore to set up a man-made fibre facility in Thoothukudi, while South Korea's Hwaseung Enterprises will put ₹1,720 crore into a large-scale non-leather footwear plant at Gangaikondan in Tirunelveli. Thoothukudi is also set to host a 250-acre space park, a shipbuilding department, a common facility centre for moringa exports worth ₹5.59 crore, and a zonal unit of the Tamil Nadu Food Processing and Agri Export Promotion Corporation in Tirunelveli.