Tamil Nadu got Rs 6,500 crore in investments last year: CM Edappadi K Palaniswami

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has received business investments of around 6,500 crore in the past one year, and created more than 60,000 new jobs, Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said on Thursday.
Speaking at CII's flagship Information and Communication Technology (ICT) conference Connect 2019, he thanked industry leaders for actively investing in the state in the past year in response to his call for support during Connect 2018.
He urged the tech industry to debate issues including how to raise investments in the tech space, how to tackle financial issues, and grow the businesses without effecting lay-offs and instead increase recruitment.
"IT/ITeS sector exports [from the state] have increased nearly 10% and employment has increased by 4% in the past year," Palaniswami said. Tamil Nadu's software exports for 2018-19 stood at 1.23 lakh crore and the making TN a front-runner in India, he added.
He also said the state would "shortly" release the electronics hardware manufacturing policy, bringing further investments and jobs to the state.
The TN eGovernance agency (TNeGA) launched at the event is a set of tech tools developed in-house for citizen services.
These included an AI-based pest identification tool for farmers that can be integrated with the state's Uzhavan app, and helps identify pests infesting crops by clicking a photograph.
The TNeGA team headed by CEO Santosh Misra also officially unveiled a facial recognition app for school attendance, which is already live in two city corporation schools.
Misra said the solution will soon go live in the Secretariat, starting with the IT department.
The agency has also created a chatbot and YouTube channel for supporting citizens' queries on e-services.
TNeGA also aligned with the state's premier educational institutions to boost innovation in service delivery. MoUs were signed with Anna University for research in AI, natural language processing and data analytics, and with IIT-Madras' alumni association to create a fellowship program in TNeGA.
CII Connect also saw the launch of consulting firm KPMG India's report looking into digital disruption in the fintech sector and the role of startups in boosting the economy.
The two-day event features more than 70 exhibitors from IT and ITeS sectors exhibiting their products and technologies.