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Industries Minister T.R.B. Rajaa on Wednesday alleged that every time Tamil Nadu secured investments, someone somewhere concocted a new conspiracy theory.
According to him, a few politicians regularly choose to cast aspersions on the State’s industrial progress. “Such claims are not only unsubstantiated, but also ignore the significant and demonstrable strides that the State made over the past four years,” he said.
According to data shared by Mr. Rajaa, since 2021, Tamil Nadu has signed 1,016 Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) involving a cumulative committed investment of ₹11.4 lakh crore, with employment potential of more than 34 lakh jobs.
Land has been acquired for 809 of these projects, accounting for over 78% of all MoUs. These are at various stages of implementation, including commercial production, trial runs, partial operations and active construction.
“We have always been clear about how to track conversion of projects: it is based on the stage of the project, as mentioned. It is childish to assume that the entire investment amount of the MoUs signed would be spent by the investors on day one. We have always said that MoUs are investment “commitments”, and it is, therefore, absurd to assume that all the investment commitments announced are equal to investments made immediately,” Mr. Rajaa said.
“Only those who are clueless about how investments work make such ridiculous assumptions. Not knowing that investment MoUs are spread over several years is laughable,” the Minister said.
He categorically rejected allegations that Tamil Nadu’s conversion numbers are less than what has been presented. He added that such allegations were driven by outright ignorance; motivated by the desire to undermine the progress of the people of Tamil Nadu, and for short-term political drama.
Hitting out at the political parties raising questions on the investments coming into the State, Mr. Rajaa said: “While some of these voices claim to champion Tamil Nadu’s industrial growth, they simultaneously oppose land acquisition for industrial parks, and criticise the development of critical infrastructure such as airports. Ironically, people who make such ignorant allegations themselves are falling for fake news — like the one where BYD was said to be setting up an ₹85,000 crore plant in Telangana – which BYD has denied outright. The same people also fail to acknowledge that the Union Government’s own data identifies Tamil Nadu as the fastest-growing State in India, with a growth rate of 11.19%, driven in a large part by the manufacturing sector.”
As per Employees’ Provident Fund data, the number of registered workers has risen from 54 lakh in 2020–21 to nearly 84 lakh in 2025–26, an addition of 30 lakh jobs, which indicates significant employment growth in the formal sector alone, he added.
Published – November 20, 2025 01:07 am IST
