The old relationship between Tamil Nadu and the Northeast, from the Brahmaputra River to the Coromandel Coast, should be revived, Union Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia said on Wednesday while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the two-day Northeast Investors Summit Chennai Roadshow held in the city.
The Minister for Communications and Development of the North Eastern Region was inviting industry leaders from Tamil Nadu to invest in the Northeastern states.
Referring to the recent establishment of a semiconductor facility in Assam, which has been set up with an outlay of Rs 40,000 crore, he said that this itself presents an opportunity for entrepreneurs from Chennai and Tamil Nadu to make investments in that sector.
“We already have a new semiconductor fab (facility) coming up in Assam with an investment of almost Rs 40,000 crore. That alone is an opportunity for Chennai entrepreneurs to consider in terms of setting up ancillary units in the Northeast. Take advantage of the location of the semiconductor fab as well,” he said.
Elucidating his point, Scindia said there has been tremendous interest from the industry community during the two-day event, with many showing eagerness to invest in the Northeastern region.
“A lot of people have come forward with MoUs and Letters of Intent to be a part of this (Northeast growth) journey,” he said.
Paying high praise to Chennai, he said the city has been a beacon of growth and prosperity over the years. “Be it the Old Mahabalipuram Road or the Sriperumbudur industrial belt, Chennai is the new Detroit,” he said, adding that 5G and 6G testbeds have also been established at IIT Madras.
The Department of Telecommunications is funding a large-scale 5G testbed project to encourage Indian startups and industries to take an early lead in 5G. The goal of the project is to build a testbed that closely resembles a real-world 5G deployment.
“The old relationship between Tamil Nadu and the Northeast, particularly from the Brahmaputra River trade to the Coromandel Coast, used to exist in the past. So, it is time to revive those old relationships once again,” he said.
On the Northeast Roadshow, he mentioned that the Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region has been holding such events across multiple cities over the last three months.
“We have tremendous potential in the Northeast in areas such as infrastructure, logistics, agriculture, floriculture, tourism, information technology, engineering, and health. On the other hand, Chennai is, in many ways, a success story. Therefore, we are here to engage with investors in Chennai and invite them to be a part of this story in the Northeast,” he said.
“Chennai is famous for its Ashtalakshmi temple, and similarly, the Northeastern states are the Ashtalakshmi states of the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a huge impetus to the Northeastern states, with the Government of India investing almost Rs 5 lakh crore over the last 10 years,” he said.
Initiatives like the Northeast Roadshow will herald a new paradigm in the development of the Northeastern states, he added. (With PTI inputs)