It was a moment of pride for Chennai, nay India, when Ford Motor Company set up its manufacturing unit at Maraimalainagar near Chennai in 1995. For that factory heralded Chennai earning the sobriquet ‘Detroit of Asia’ with many more motor majors driving down to the city and its suburbs. That was why many felt a personal loss when Ford decided in 2021 to wind up its operations in that iconic plant. But last week when chief minister M.K. Stalin was at Chicago on a mission to invite global companies to invest in Tamil Nadu, he met the honchos of Ford and entreated them to come back. A couple of days later when the chief minister was on the plane back home, Ford announced its return, much to the delight of many.
But that triumph for Chennai, soaked in sentimentality, was just a crowning glory to the overall success of Mr Stalin’s 17-day trip to the US that witnessed the signing of Memoranda of Understanding with 19 companies, 18 of them from the elite Fortune 500 bracket. But more than the `7,618 crore investments that would flow into the State, the agreements promise to open up job opportunities for 11,516 persons in Tamil Nadu, yes not just in Chennai but in places like Coimbatore, Trichy, Krishnagiri and Madurai. Ford alone would add 2,500 to 3,000 members to the existing workforce in India through the reopening of the Maraimalainagar plant.
At a time when many States in the country, particularly a few close to Tamil Nadu, vie desperately for foreign investment to boost their economies, Stalin ensured that his State not only moved towards reaching the goalpost set by him in becoming a US $ 1 trillion economy’ by 2030 but also become a top job provider. Ever since the present government took over, it has been laying emphasis on generating employment opportunities as part of its development agenda for the State. The Chief Minister’s favorite welfare scheme, Naan Mudhalvan, is about preparing youth for world class vocations and he did not forget it during the MoU signing spree, too.
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