Chennai, Aug 4 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Thursday decided to come out with new industrial and land acquisition policies to attract investment.


The state, which is ranked seventh among Indian states in attracting investment in manufacturing sector, also is looking at making sector-specific policies.

Presenting the AIADMK government's first budget, Finance Minister O. Pannerselvam said: "As per the CMIE (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy) report of 2010-11, Tamil Nadu has slipped to the seventh position in attracting investments in the manufacturing sector."

"This government will come out with a New Industrial Policy 2011, besides formulating sector specific policies for automobiles and auto components, bio-technology and pharma," he added.

It was in 2007 the state had come out with a new industrial policy.

According to him the government will also constitute a Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Board under the chairmanship of the chief minister.

Pannerselvam said the government will come out with a "Vision 2025" document addressing the critical gaps in the policy to drive economic growth.

Referring to the problems in acquisition of land for industrial use, Pannerselvam said the state would come out with a new land acquisition policy by adopting innovative methods like land pooling to create adequate land banks for building industrial parks and infrastructure.

He said the state was in discussion with industrial houses, which may attract 22 major projects having an investment potential of nearly Rs.21,500 crore.

He said the government planned to establish exclusive industrial estates to house investors from Korea, Japan and Thailand.

Pannerselvam said the state-owned Tamil Nadu Cements Corporation's capacity will be increased to 1.9 million tonne per annum (tpa) from 700,000 tpa at an outlay of Rs.515 crore.