Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government said Thursday that it has secured fresh investment commitments worth Rs 67,452 crore through 97 company-level MoUs at the inaugural Vettri Tamil Nadu Investment Conclave, with the potential to generate more than one lakh jobs across 16 sectors. The latest MoUs, the government claimed, push cumulative commitments in the TVK-led government’s first 100 days past the Rs 1-lakh crore mark.
Industries Minister S. Keerthana, who has been driving the outreach, said both new entrants and existing players are doubling down on Tamil Nadu.
“Greenfield tells us new investors are choosing Tamil Nadu for the first time. Brownfield tells us something more powerful, that companies already here are choosing to expand,” she said, reiterating the ambition of a USD 1.5-trillion economy by 2036 built on higher-value manufacturing, R&D and innovation rather than volume alone.
The conclave, said the government, saw 25 companies making their first investment in Tamil Nadu. Separately, seven institutional agreements were exchanged across trade, MSME development, drone training, technology transfer, and semiconductor skilling.
With many new players entering into MoUs with the government, analysts asked if the companies are genuine and have undergone a verification.
Political analyst Sumanth Raman questioned the authenticity of Lighthouse Green, a firm investing in a data center in Thoothukudi. “Share capital 1 lakh. Company formed 4 months ago. Registered office is an apartment Tiruvallur. Multiple red flags,” he wrote on X.
DMK, too, expressed similar concerns. DMK spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan told ThePrint that many companies making investment commitments are lesser-known. “We should check the credibility first. We don’t know whether these are true are not,” he said.
According to the government, Tamil Nadu’s attractiveness as a global investment destination was reflected in 30 foreign-headquartered projects, representing Rs 22,268 crore in FDI commitments and 38,357 projected jobs. The source of these commitments spanned 16 countries, including Australia, Germany, Japan, France, Singapore, South Korea, the United States, Sweden, Taiwan, Denmark, Malaysia, Italy and Switzerland.
Japan’s YKK, the world’s largest zipper maker, for instance, is investing heavily in Tiruvallur, while France’s Saint-Gobain is reinvesting in float-glass capacity. Germany’s Bitzer is making its India entry with HVAC compressors, while US IT giant Supermicro is establishing server assembly operations. Singapore’s Ascendas Firstspace is expanding its industrial-park footprint with Korean firms dominating the auto-component space.
Commitments from Taiwanese, Danish, Swedish and Sri Lankan companies also appeared in footwear, wind-energy castings, airbags and apparel, among other sectors.
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Automotives, EV lead the basket
Automotive and EV investments formed the largest share of commitments, with JK Tyre & Industries announcing an expansion of its passenger and truck-bus radial tyre capacity at a cost of over Rs 5,000 crore. Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, meanwhile, is upgrading its Oragadam hub with a Rs 4,000-crore commitment for design, R&D and manufacturing.
Other notable names include Lucas TVS, Hinduja Group, Ultraviolette Automotive (e-scooters) and a string of Korean suppliers including HL Mando Anand, HL Klemove, INZI Controls which have committed to set up or expand component lines for global OEMs.
Data centres also emerged as one of the standout stories. Light House Green Data Center committed Rs 10,000 crore for a hybrid hyperscale facility with AI capabilities in Thoothukudi, described as the first of its kind in the region. Nxtra Data, Airtel’s data-centre arm, followed with a commitment of Rs 1,417 crore to expand capacity in Chennai and open a new edge centre in Trichy. Combined, the two projects account for the bulk of the more than Rs 11,400 crore committed to the sector.
Life sciences also registered a strong showing, with Caplin Group committing nearly Rs 1,000 crore for Tamil Nadu’s first large-scale integrated biologics and biosimilars facility aimed at regulated markets. S3V Vascular Technologies, meanwhile, has committed to set up a medical-implant plant.
Tamil Nadu will also host two of India’s leading private space launch companies, Agnikul Cosmos and Skyroot Aerospace, both setting up integration and testing facilities in Thoothukudi, under MoUs signed at the Vettri Tamil Nadu Investment Conclave 2026.
Agnikul Cosmos has committed to invest Rs 400 crore and create 1,500 jobs, setting up assembly and integration operations for its reusable, liquid-propelled launch vehicles.
Skyroot Aerospace, on the other hand, has committed to invest Rs 250 crore and create 500 jobs, setting up storage, assembly, integration and testing facilities.
Their decision to anchor operations in Thoothukudi builds on the district’s growing maritime and industrial ecosystem.
Critical engineering, textiles, electronics and semiconductor supply-chain companies, and deep-tech ventures, ranging from quantum hardware to fabless chip design also made the list of investment commitments.
Minister Keerthana underlined process reforms, including a proposed Investor Promotion Commission, a 21-day approval clock with deemed-approval provisions, and continued strengthening of the single-window system. “We are not simply asking investors to trust us. We are putting a clock on ourselves,” she said, framing the government’s role as “invisible when everything is working, available when something isn’t”.
‘Only 24 MoUs’: Former industries minister
DMK leader and former industries minister T.R.B. Raja questioned the restrictions on the media presence at the conclave and claimed that a large number of MoUs and investments were already sought by the previous regime.
“Every investment, every factory, every job created in our state makes us happy. Yes, irrespective of which govt is in place. That is precisely why today’s claim of 97 MoUs deserves greater transparency. The very fact that the press was not allowed to take part in today’s conclave raises serious doubts! The business press in Chennai has been one of Tamil Nadu’s strongest partners in promoting our investment story for decades. Why were they kept out of the conclave and why is there still no official list of the 97 MoUs?” he said in a statement on X.
He further claimed that almost 70 MoUs, accounting for around 75 percent of the investment value and 83 percent of the jobs, appear to be existing companies expanding or investment leads already put into the pipeline by the ‘Dravidian Model’ government of previous chief minister M.K. Stalin.
“Rs 1,000 crore attributed to Titan is from the state’s existing relationship with the company through TIDCO. Even if we generously include every investment that is new or potentially new, it amounts to only 24 MoUs, which is around 23 percent of the value and 15 percent of the jobs,” he added.
Demanding transparency on the MoUs, the DMK leader said that the previous government built an ecosystem, attracted investors, signed MoUs, nurtured leads and created conditions for companies to expand.
“Release the list of companies signed today to the press. Let them examine it. Let the people know what is genuinely new, what is an expansion and what was already in the pipeline. If the numbers are as impressive as the advertisements claim, transparency can only make the achievement stronger,” he stated.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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