Asserting that the State government wished to attract ‘responsible investment and responsible industries’ to Kerala, Industries Minister P. Rajeeve on Thursday said that IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), V-Guard, and Lulu Group were among the companies planning investments in the State.
TCS, which is planning a total investment of ₹1,350 crore in two phases, will ink an MoU with the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra) this month, Mr. Rajeeve told the Assembly, in response to questions on new investments.
20,000 jobs
The Minister’s office said in a statement that the TCS is establishing a campus at the Kinfra Electronics Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) at Kakkanad for which ₹600 crore will be invested in Phase I and ₹750 crore in Phase II. The TCS board had approved the investment on July 14.
Planned on 36.83 acres, the project is expected to generate 20,000 jobs over five to seven years.
Land for V-Guard
The government had allocated land for V-Guard for setting up an electronics, testing and reliability labs at the Kinfra EMC. The ₹120-crore investment was expected to create 800 jobs, he said.
Lulu Group was establishing an electronics warehousing unit at the Kinfra International Apparel Park in Thiruvananthapuram at a cost of ₹7 crore. This project is expected to generate about 850 jobs, according to the Minister. Fair Exports would invest ₹200 crore in a food processing unit at the Kinfra Hi-Tech Park, Ernakulam.
Mr. Rajeeve said the government was seeking eco-friendly and law-abiding industries. A three-member committee would be formed to have a re-look at outdated laws, he said.
The number of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in the State had doubled since 2016, he said. Their number stood at 1.4 lakh now, including 920 which were registered in the past two months after the present LDF government came to power, he said.
