Tamil Nadu’s Southern Region gears up as key export growth centre

CHENNAI : Southern Tamil Nadu is rapidly positioning itself as South India’s next industrial and export powerhouse, fueled by large-scale investments and proactive state policies. The recent inauguration of Vietnamese Electric Vehicle major VinFast’s manufacturing facility in Thoothukudi has set the momentum, attracting fresh capital and industries to districts such as Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Kanniyakumari, Virudhunagar, Tenkasi, and Madurai. Officials describe this emerging cluster as a “significant economic corridor” shaping the state’s southern growth story.

For the southern region alone, the state has signed MoUs worth Rs 30,100 crore during a recent investors’ conference, promising 46,450 jobs. MSMEs have pledged an additional Rs 1,261 crore, with plans to create 1,000 jobs. Under the Naan Mudhalvan skill initiative, 350 people have been trained, with 250 of whom now working in training roles at VinFast.

Several big-ticket projects are in the pipeline. Singapore-based Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) is investing Rs 4,953 crore to set up a man-made fibre facility in Thoothukudi, while South Korea’s Hwaseung Enterprises will put Rs 1,720 crore into a large-scale non-leather footwear plant at Gangaikondan in Tirunelveli. Thoothukudi is also set to host a 250-acre space park, a shipbuilding department, a common facility centre for moringa exports worth Rs 5.59 crore, and a zonal unit of the Tamil Nadu Food Processing and Agri Export Promotion Corporation in Tirunelveli.

Industries Minister TRB Rajaa says the state’s decade-long logistics master plan will unlock the south’s trade potential through multi-modal logistics parks in Madurai and Thoothukudi, and an air cargo complex in Thoothukudi to accelerate high-value and time-sensitive cargo movement.

This industrial push is reshaping the region’s shipping landscape, with VOC Port in Thoothukudi and Adani Group’s transhipment hub at Vizhinjam, Kerala, both vying for the region’s growing cargo volumes.