Chennai, Mar 27 (IANS): The multibillion-dollar Lulu group of Keralite NRI businessman M.A. Yusuf Ali will be investing Rs 3,500 crore in Tamil Nadu. This was announced by the group chairman and Managing Director M.A. Yusuf Ali while attending the investors' meet of Tamil Nadu in Dubai.
The meet was organised by the Tamil Nadu state government on Saturday. Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M.K. Stalin, who is on a four-day tour of the Middle East to scout investments, was present at the meet.
The Lulu group will build two shopping malls and an export-oriented food processing unit.
The group, according to a statement from the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's office will ink the Memorandum of Understanding on Monday in Abu Dhabi. The Lulu group Chairman M.A. Yusuf Ali in a statement said that the group would commence construction of the malls soon and will provide employment to 5,000 people in the two malls.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in his speech said that ever since he assumed office as the Chief Minister, the state has signed 124 MoU's attracting an investment of 8 billion dollars creating employment opportunities for 20,000 people.
He said that the target of a trillion economy by 2030 is achievable and that the state has chalked out several programmes and activities, including developing infrastructure, upskilling the workforce to improve productivity, and taking up measures to attract investments in new sectors like electric vehicles, technical textiles, and other sectors.
The Chief Minister also invited industrialists from the UAE to invest in food processing, hospitality, food parks, and real estate sectors in Tamil Nadu.
He also appealed to the investors from Dubai to invest in a massive furniture park that was coming up at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu.
M.K. Stalin told investors that the state is well-posed for good growth and that the state has a positive GDP growth rate of 5.8 per cent when compared to negative growth in many other economies. He also said the mission of the Tamil Nadu government was to attract massive investments in manufacturing and service sectors and develop the state into a massive investment hub.