The world sees opportunity in India because of port infrastructure, workforce, state policies and consumption in the country, says Tamil Nadu Minister TRB Rajaa in conversation with Niraj Shah.
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00:00 Well, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at Davos,
00:03 we are catching up with somebody who recently have had
00:08 the state investor summit with significant MOUs already
00:12 signed.
00:13 So I wonder when I was thinking of asking Dr. T.R.V.
00:17 Raja, who is the Minister of Industries, Investment,
00:19 Promotion, and Commerce for the government of Tamil Nadu,
00:22 about what is it that you're doing in VEF
00:24 if you're not seeking MOUs?
00:25 No, but on a very serious note, firstly,
00:28 thanks for speaking to us.
00:29 We're just telling the world that this
00:32 is what Tamil Nadu has been doing all this while.
00:35 And this is why we are unique in India.
00:37 And this is why all of these loads of companies
00:43 have been investing and reinvesting into Tamil Nadu.
00:46 And we are here to just tell the world that, look,
00:50 here's an opportunity, especially
00:53 to step into a knowledge economy,
00:55 step into a place which has huge talent capital,
01:00 and do what the world is looking to do in a sustainable way,
01:07 in a very equitable and diverse and inclusive society.
01:12 So when you go ahead and market your product outside
01:16 to the world, you can probably say
01:18 that we've manufactured in a state,
01:21 in a place which is highly inclusive,
01:24 has a diverse workforce, has a huge women workforce,
01:29 and is also inclusive with its policies.
01:33 So yeah, a progressive state doing what needs to be done.
01:38 And being the biggest manufacturing powerhouse
01:42 of India is what we do best.
01:44 And we're here to tell the world that we're doing this.
01:46 Yeah, and I would love to understand
01:48 about how is the world listening to that.
01:49 But just before I come to that, something
01:52 that I've caught from all the conversations that I've had,
01:56 and something that was visible last year as well,
01:58 this India presence, maybe a lot louder last year,
02:02 a lot more toned down this year, but still
02:05 a fairly dominant presence on the promenade here.
02:08 What do you sense about this whole shift
02:12 that a lot of global companies are combining?
02:14 I don't see India's toned down.
02:16 In fact, I see such big noise.
02:18 I mean, we've had a packed day yesterday and today,
02:22 especially our pavilion has.
02:24 At least one state is doing brilliantly well.
02:26 No, no, no.
02:27 And I'll tell you, India also.
02:29 India also, I must say, I've heard at least three big CEOs
02:34 tell me that this decade is India's decade.
02:36 And I just shot back at them, told them
02:39 this century is ours, at least.
02:42 And I even told them why, because we
02:44 have the human capital.
02:46 We're doing things right.
02:47 And the world has seen India for what it really is worth.
02:52 And it sees that India is growing in a big way.
02:54 And they've also seen the consumption inside India
02:57 is going in a big way.
02:58 So they're also making in India for India.
03:01 And they also see the quality of manufacturing
03:04 that's coming out of India, especially
03:06 from states like Tamil Nadu.
03:08 It's exceptional.
03:09 And it's going in comparable to any other place
03:12 around that area, at least, and if not the world.
03:15 So the world is looking at India in a different way.
03:18 And we just showcased ourselves in a big way in Davos now.
03:21 And I think all the other states have also done a fantastic job.
03:24 I must say, Telangana is also here.
03:26 Karnataka is here.
03:28 Maharashtra is here.
03:30 And yeah, the India story is here for the world to see.
03:33 And we're telling the world that we
03:35 are the state which is powering that growth for India.
03:37 Yeah.
03:38 And kudos to you.
03:39 I mean, you guys have had a fantastic run from last year
03:42 to this year as well.
03:43 So great to see that.
03:44 My question is, I heard you mention
03:46 this thing about the globe looking
03:48 to make in India for India.
03:51 I'm trying to understand with the conversations
03:53 that you've had with global CEOs,
03:54 whether at Davos or previously, are people
03:57 talking about making in India not just for India,
03:59 but for the world as well?
04:01 Yeah, yeah, of course, of course.
04:03 But the world sees the opportunity
04:05 that is there today in India to manufacture and sell in India.
04:10 But of course, they're also seeing the amazing port
04:12 infrastructure, the kind of workforce that we have,
04:15 the manufacturing capability of states like Tamil Nadu,
04:18 for instance, and the amazing policies,
04:19 like what our Chief Minister, Mr. M.K. Stalin,
04:22 has been doing over the past one and a half years
04:25 with progressive and closer policies coming in,
04:27 and which takes all their DEI boxes, right?
04:30 So when somebody wants to come in and manufacture
04:32 for the world and for India, they
04:34 see there is this one place which is amazingly
04:38 apt for their manufacturing.
04:41 So I think India as such is an undeniable force now.
04:47 And I think the world needs to look at India
04:49 in a bigger way.
04:50 And that's exactly what they're doing,
04:52 because they can manufacture here.
04:54 They can now also do their R&D right here in India,
04:57 close to the manufacturing capabilities.
05:00 And they can work on that, the entire research capability,
05:04 right, especially in a state like Tamil Nadu,
05:06 again, which has the highest number of research
05:09 fellows in India.
05:10 So yeah, and we also did the highest number
05:13 of patents last year.
05:14 Yeah, actually, on that effect, and before I
05:17 come to the EV and the other dominant pieces,
05:20 I read a Collier's note which said that GCC has really
05:23 grabbed a large piece of commercial estate
05:25 all through the year, and particularly in the last quarter
05:27 as well.
05:28 Talk a bit about that.
05:29 So you started by asking why we are not interested in MOUs.
05:33 It's not like we're not interested in MOUs.
05:35 But I'm telling you, we are not after MOUs.
05:38 That's exact-- there's a big difference, right?
05:41 We would rather have all these investments come
05:46 in and look at the quality of jobs that are created, right,
05:49 via these investments, and not just an MOU for print,
05:54 tomorrow's news.
05:55 No, that's not what Tamil Nadu is all about.
05:57 And Tamil Nadu, per se, it's not also a desperate state.
06:00 We are not a desperate state.
06:01 We're looking at quality of investment, right?
06:03 We are very choosy about what kind of investments come in.
06:06 We are very, very careful about how we spend our incentives,
06:09 right?
06:09 We give amazing incentives, but at the same time,
06:11 we're very, very careful about our incentives.
06:13 We make sure that the incentives are used properly
06:15 to give us the quality of jobs that we want in the places
06:19 that we want.
06:19 You're saying others are not doing that well?
06:21 I wouldn't want to comment on others,
06:22 but I think this is what we do, and that's
06:24 what I'm telling the world.
06:25 OK, OK, fair call.
06:26 I appreciate that.
06:28 Talk about the-- I mean, so the much talked about thing
06:31 is what's happening on the EV side.
06:33 Big announcements recently, as well.
06:36 I'm sorry, I didn't tell you about the office space
06:38 connection, right?
06:38 Oh, yes, sorry.
06:39 Yes, I asked you about that, but God bless.
06:41 Please talk about it.
06:42 So yeah, as I said.
06:43 So when we-- so this MOU scene, right?
06:46 So it's not about that.
06:47 We do this-- we correct policies.
06:49 We set policies right.
06:51 We listen to the industry.
06:52 We take feedback from the industry.
06:54 And the office space absorption that you see today
06:57 is a work that we've done over the past year and a half or two.
07:01 We made sure that we put out a GCC policy inside our R&D
07:05 policy.
07:06 We put a bit of incentives for the GCCs inside our R&D policy
07:11 which we released last year.
07:12 So that is paying dividends now, right?
07:14 See, people are coming in in a big way.
07:16 And already, the talent is available.
07:18 The talent is huge in Tamil Nadu.
07:21 And these are all high-end research fellows.
07:23 So when people like, let's say, Hidachi Energy,
07:25 which came in this year, which is open this year,
07:28 3,500 jobs, all research jobs, 500 PhDs in this,
07:33 and almost half of them are women.
07:36 Nice.
07:36 So now you know why everybody's coming into Chennai
07:38 and why you see the office space absorption going up.
07:41 These things are not a one-in-a-year thing.
07:44 You expect this to continue in 2024?
07:46 Yeah, forever.
07:48 Because we are the most advanced state in Tamil Nadu.
07:52 Sorry for interjecting, but people
07:53 would say that there is also a factor of low base which
07:56 showed that high percentage.
07:57 So that's what I'm asking.
07:57 You expect it to continue in 2024?
07:59 No, I'll tell you why this is.
08:00 Because the urbanization pace that's happening in Tamil Nadu
08:03 doesn't happen anywhere else in the country.
08:05 We are the most urbanized state in India.
08:07 So the growth is going to not just
08:09 be limited to Chennai and its periphery.
08:12 It's going to go to south of Chennai, south of Tamil Nadu,
08:15 to the western zones of Tamil Nadu,
08:18 and also to the delta, which is the central zone of Tamil Nadu.
08:21 So we have enough space to grow into to bring people
08:25 to come and live and work for at least another century.
08:31 OK.
08:33 Talk about the most spoken about things.
08:37 Automobiles always been the case.
08:39 Electric vehicles now coming in.
08:41 Big announcements recently.
08:42 How do you see this piece shaping up?
08:44 Well, we've been the auto capital for the longest time.
08:46 And we recently became the electronics capital also,
08:51 right?
08:52 5.37 billion last year.
08:54 This year, we already done 5.6 billion.
08:56 We're hitting 8 billion for sure this year.
08:58 So when you put auto and EVs together,
09:00 I mean auto and electronics together, you get EVs, right?
09:03 Basically, that's all it is.
09:04 So again, so now we are the EV capital of India.
09:08 70% of all the two-wheelers, EV two-wheelers, and 40%
09:11 of all the EV four-wheelers sold in India
09:14 are manufactured in Tamil Nadu.
09:16 So we are making for India there, right there in Tamil Nadu.
09:19 And it's quality manufacturing.
09:21 So yeah, so people see that there is quality.
09:24 There is infrastructure which is available.
09:26 There's amazing policy.
09:27 And the government is always there.
09:30 Coming back to your MOU point, it's not just the MOU.
09:32 We stay with them.
09:33 We stay with the investment.
09:35 We stay with the investors.
09:36 We check the grounding process.
09:38 We help them ground the investments.
09:40 We make sure that their infrastructure
09:42 is built in a fast-paced manner.
09:45 We get clearances done, single window, proper single window,
09:48 not just the name.
09:49 We get a few hundred clearances all coming
09:53 into the single window system.
09:55 And we put our officers with the investors' team,
09:58 making sure that they ground their companies,
10:01 ground their projects soon.
10:03 And make sure that the investment turns into jobs.
10:06 That's what is key for this government.
10:08 OK, last two questions.
10:11 How do you see the next-- everybody
10:13 calls this India's decade.
10:15 You mentioned that as well, right?
10:16 I would love to understand how you see whatever
10:19 is predictable, whether one year, 24 months, 36 months,
10:21 as the case may be, in terms of growth in investments
10:25 in Tamil Nadu, if it's possible to kind of lay out
10:27 a number or a growth number there,
10:29 and rate of growth of the economy.
10:33 We're going at 15th year, last year.
10:36 And we're going to consistently be at that-- around that level,
10:38 at least, if not more.
10:40 We want to hit a trillion-dollar economy by 2031, at least.
10:44 My leader just released a roadmap
10:47 to that trillion-dollar economy during the Global Investors
10:51 Meet recently.
10:53 And to do all that, there needs to be a concerted effect,
10:56 right?
10:57 And it also needs to-- we also need
11:00 to bring in quality investments, which
11:02 will give jobs, distributed growth to the state,
11:06 wherein all parts of the state is growing.
11:09 The village is growing.
11:10 That's exactly why we have high-end technical R&D
11:13 jobs for places like the most urban metro, the safest
11:17 city in India, Chennai.
11:18 And we also have non-leather footwear companies
11:22 giving 40,000 jobs to rural women in a single place, right?
11:25 So this is what Tamil Nadu is doing.
11:27 We're growing at the urban level.
11:29 We're growing at the rural level also.
11:31 So we've been invigorating the entire economy
11:34 and making sure the economy is churning beautifully
11:37 and giving us amazing results.
11:39 And you will see those results very, very soon.
11:42 OK, all inclusive.
11:43 My final question.
11:44 We all aim to do everything right.
11:46 There are always some lapses.
11:48 And I'm sure from investors, from other people,
11:51 we hear, what is it that could be done better?
11:53 I'm just trying to understand, to your mind,
11:55 what is it that is still not being done at your state
11:58 level or otherwise, or even in the Indian level, which
12:00 could be done?
12:02 I had this discussion with the ambassador of Switzerland
12:06 some time back.
12:07 And he had a very nice point to make
12:10 about attracting talent from outside India also.
12:14 That becomes key to integrate areas like life sciences,
12:17 right?
12:18 Like Switzerland is the base for life sciences innovation.
12:22 Innovation happens here.
12:23 And when you need high-end talent,
12:26 and even the talent which has gone out of India
12:28 and has gained a name for himself or herself,
12:32 I mean, somebody who's gone out, lived there, done that,
12:35 and they really want to come back and give it back
12:37 to the country, we need a country which
12:39 is seen, which is urbanized, which
12:41 has the social infra in all zones, right?
12:44 Not just one state.
12:45 We are the most urbanized state in India.
12:48 And we've done that via the drought in model policy.
12:50 And we've done that via equal opportunities for everybody.
12:54 We've done that via inclusive growth, right?
12:57 And we've done that via distributed growth again.
12:59 So this is what we want India to do.
13:02 We don't want to grow alone.
13:03 We really want India to grow together.
13:05 And we want to be the engine powering India.
13:08 But we want the whole of India to gain from our knowledge.
13:12 Let's share the knowledge that we have.
13:14 Please take it.
13:15 Learn from what Tamil Nadu has done over decades,
13:18 over several regimes.
13:20 It's just the way we design policy
13:23 and how we take people on board.
13:25 And let's be an inclusive state and an inclusive country.
13:28 And that way, when you see growth all over the country,
13:31 you see amazing talent which has gone out
13:33 of the country for various reasons.
13:34 And they want to come back.
13:36 And when they come back, give them
13:37 the right kind of social infrastructure.
13:40 Put that in place, and you'll get all the brain drain that's
13:43 happened.
13:43 We can gain that back.
13:44 And I think that innovation, when that innovation happens
13:48 once these people come back, or when
13:50 other foreigners who want to come and work
13:53 with the amazing talent which is already existent in India,
13:57 if this synergy happens, if people coming in
13:59 and our people coming back, you will see amazing research
14:02 happening.
14:03 We want to be the R&D capital of India also.
14:06 And I think the next decade, the key ingredient for growth
14:10 there would be R&D.
14:11 New patents, more patents, our own patents,
14:13 India having its own patents.
14:15 And we were manufacturing for India, in India,
14:18 and for the world with our own patents.
14:20 I see amazing growth there, especially
14:23 in life sciences sitting here right here in Switzerland.
14:26 OK, well, cross fingers, all 20 of them.
14:28 But keep up the good work, and thanks so much for talking.
14:30 It was lovely having this interaction.
14:32 And viewers, thanks for tuning in.
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