TN will come up with hardware policy, says Stalin

CHENNAI: A ‘Tamil Nadu Electronic Hardware Policy’ would soon be brought out with a view to increase internal production and also take exports to a considerable level, Chief Minister M K Stalin announced on Friday.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Taiwanese electronic giant Pegatron’s smartphone factory at Mahindra City in Chengalpattu district, Stalin said that he wanted Tamil Nadu to be the number one mobile phone manufacturing hub, a distinction now held by China.

While efforts were on to bring in the complete distribution chain for smartphone production to the State, the government’s aspiration was to make Tamil Nadu a leader not just in the manufacturing of electronic goods but all in sectors.

Driven by the objective of turning the State into a trillion US dollar economy by the year 2030, the government was making efforts to lure high technology industries that would provide job opportunities for the people and a memorandum of understanding was recently signed for setting up a semiconductor plant in the State, he said.

Thanking Pegatron for making its foray into the State with the smartphone manufacturing project with an investment of Rs 1100 crore and job opportunities for 14,000 persons at this moment, Stalin said he was glad to learn that the company was also planning to launch its second phase of the venture in the State itself.

Assuring all government support for the expansion project, he invited the company to start all their future projects, too, in the State, and urged them to encourage other companies, too, to come over to Tamil Nadu for launching business ventures.

That Pegatron managed to start production within 18 months of signing the MoU revealed the prevailing investor-friendly atmosphere in the State, which was making land allotment, granting necessary permissions and extending concessions without any delay, he said.

Thanking Pegatron for having the faith on the State to choose it for setting up its new production unit, he said he was delighted to note that most of the 1400 jobs generated by the new venture would go to women, for it would only strengthen the Dravidian Model governance that had committed itself to empower women socially and economically.

As of now Tamil Nadu was the State where more number of women go for work in companies and the DMK government, too, was trying to support the women by providing them the right work environment that gives them the necessary security and due respect, besides providing safe commutation facilities.

The government that saw the introduction of free bus service for women as its responsibility as the measure gave economic independence to the women had also come up with schemes to provide subsidies to companies that employed more women.

The idea behind encouraging new industrial ventures in the State was that it would enable the region and the district to develop, enabling the communities living around the place to grow with youth and women getting job opportunities, he said.  

In the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) in the State, the electronics department was in the forefront with a potential to re-draw the production map itself, he said.

The present trend had led to the State contributing to 20 per cent of the electronic production of the country with companies like Samsung, Foxconn, Flextronics, Sanmina, Bosch, Salcomp, Delta Electronics and TATA electronics having established companies there, he said.

Apart from Electronic goods and smartphones, the State was also producing information technology equipment, consumer goods and also white goods like refrigerators, washing machines and LED lights, he said.