THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The Kerala Government on Saturday clarified that the southern Indian state aims to attract ₹10,000 crore ($1 billion) of investment in shipbuilding from multiple investors, rather than a single source, in the coming years.
The clarification comes after Chief Minister Shri V.D. Satheesan in an interview to Bloomberg News earlier this week said the TATA Group has sought approval to invest $1 billion in shipbuilding in Kerala.
“It does not mean that a single investment agreement of this amount has been finalized with any one institution,” Kerala’s Department of Information and Public Relations said in a statement.
The state government has facilitated a joint venture between Malabar Cements Ltd. and Artsun Engineering Ltd., a part of the Tata Projects Group, to set up a shipbuilding unit at Cochin Port, and all the necessary approvals have been received for the project, according to the statement.
The Tata Group has not yet issued any statement on the matter. Mission Samudra, code name for Kerla’s shipbuilding and marine ecosystem project, is not a project limited to one shipbuilding unit, the state government said.
