The challenge isn’t just retaining the state’s industrial edge, but capturing a larger share of new opportunities and moving up the value chain
The Industrial Policy 2021 broadly delivered on its intent — targeting `10 lakh crore of investment and 20 lakh jobs by 2025, with manufacturing growing at a healthy 9-10% CAGR over five years. The transformation shows in electronics: exports rose from $5.37 billion in FY23 to $14.65 billion in FY25, taking TN’s share past 41% of India’s electronics exports, with Kancheepuram now the country’s second-largest exporting district. GCCs are most immediate — Chennai’s GCC headcount has roughly doubled since 2019, with room to differentiate through engineering- and manufacturing-linked centres, and to extend the model to Coimbatore, Madurai and Trichy. Defence and aerospace is another: TN’s defence industrial corridor has already drawn over `23,000 crore against a 2032 target of `75,000 crore.
“TN does need a new industrial policy, not because the current one has failed, but because the ecosystem it was drawn for no longer exists,” says Nithin Chandra, senior partner, Kearney. Gujarat’s ‘choose your incentive’ mechanism, letting investors pick between capital subsidy, interest subsidy or power-tariff relief, is a useful benchmark,” Chandra says. TN’s next policy should aim not just to attract capital but ensure every rupee creates more local value, technology, IP and global market access, says P Ravichandran, chairman, CII Southern Region. Its task is to climb the value chain before rivals do, Ravichandran says. The next policy should not ask, “How much investment did we attract?” but “What did that investment make Tamil Nadu capable of doing that it couldn’t before?
What’s changed, then, is less the policy’s execution than the competitive landscape around it — with new trade agreements and fresh investment flowing into semiconductors, EVs, aerospace and critical minerals. “Incentive design itself needs to modernise. Three emerging opportunities stand out. Third is advanced capital goods and heavy engineering, including shipbuilding and the blue economy. The larger bet: TN has the industrial base, talent, supplier networks and export orientation many emerging manufacturing hubs are trying to build. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Chennai | Silver Rate in Chennai | Bank Holidays in Chennai | Public Holidays in Chennai | Chennai AQI | Weather in Chennai | Petrol Price in Chennai | Diesel Price in Chennai | CNG Price in Chennai | LPG Price in Chennai