Tamil Nadu has the potential to become an international destination of choice. With the combination of talent, technology and incentivised policy, the State has all the ingredients to become a global destination for products and services, S. Ramadorai, Advisor to Prime Minister on Skill Development, said on Wednesday.

Delivering the keynote address at ‘Connect 2011' meet organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, he said the economy of the State was dependable and consistent. Mr. Ramadorai said Tamil Nadu had the country's brightest minds, a vibrant entertainment industry, thriving art and culture and one of the largest entrepreneurial forces. “It must attract investment to drive growth and revenues multifold. In the line with world cities, Chennai needs investment to create world class infrastructure.”

He said challenges in health, education, water, agriculture, livelihood and energy should be addressed both in rural and urban areas. “Development is characterised by high influx of people into big towns and cities. This makes town planning critical not just for Chennai but other growing cities in the State. A holisitic approach to offer a comfortable urban lifestyle, create safe cities with affordable services, good education, reliable communication etc must be looked into as people evaluate their destination of choice based on these parameters.”

Mr. Ramadorai said the success of some recent Tamil movies reflected the customer taste ad appetite for science fiction and computer graphics. Combined with high quality technological talent available locally, the State could take leadership in becoming the preferred destination for film-related support services. Explaining his action plan for Tamil Nadu's sustainable growth, he said a centralised project monitoring system was required to track the progress of projects across the State.

Speaking on the occasion, S. Mahalingam, Chairman of ‘Connect 2011', said the global economic situation was worrying and hence the industry, which has a substantial export content, had to keep enhancing its value proposition for survival. Emphasising the need to attract research activities of global companies, he mooted for a separate department to support innovations.

T.T. Ashok, Chairman, CII (Southern Region) said the number of Indian and multinational organisations having presence in Tamil Nadu was testimony to the fact that Tamil Nadu had emerged as a hub for software, hardware and R&D.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article2736022.ece