CHENNAI: As Tamil Nadu steps into 2026, the state’s industries department is projecting 2025 as a year in which policy intent translated decisively into outcomes. Reviewing the year, Industries Minister T R B Rajaa said Tamil Nadu had emerged as one of the country’s most active investment destinations, with momentum driven by both scale and structural depth.
In a social media post, Rajaa said that in 2025 alone, the state signed more than 270 memoranda of understanding, committing investments worth Rs 2.07 lakh crore and creating over 4 lakh employment opportunities. However, he said the defining feature of the year’s investment cycle was not merely the quantum of commitments but their geographic spread.
Industrial and IT investments increasingly moved beyond Chennai, with employment generation extending to newer districts. The government announced its first SIPCOT industrial parks in districts such as Tenkasi, Madurai and Tiruvarur, while a series of TIDEL Neo parks aimed to take IT infrastructure closer to tier-2 and tier-3 cities. At the other end of the spectrum, the state unveiled plans for a 2,000-acre TIDCO Global City near Chennai.
Aerospace and defence manufacturing expanded through projects involving private launch vehicle firms and component makers. Railway, maritime and heavy engineering manufacturing saw fresh capacity additions, largely linked to export-oriented demand.