Tamil Nadu signs Rs 18,600 crore L&T pact, 8,000 jobs

The Tamil Nadu government and infrastructure conglomerate Larsen & Toubro signed a major investment agreement on Thursday, marking the first such industrial pact since the new state administration took office. The Memorandum of Understanding, signed at the Secretariat in Chennai, commits the company to three projects totaling Rs 18,600 crore and is expected to generate over 8,000 jobs.

The largest component is a Rs 15,000 crore expansion of L&T's data centre operations in Kancheepuram district. Officials said the project is aimed at supporting growing demand for cloud services, artificial intelligence, and data storage infrastructure. It is expected to create approximately 500 jobs.

A second project involves establishing an electronics and electrical systems manufacturing facility in Coimbatore with an investment of Rs 2,500 crore, which is projected to generate around 2,000 jobs. The third initiative is a Rs 1,100 crore expansion of the company's shipbuilding complex at Kattupalli in Tiruvallur district, anticipated to create 5,700 jobs. The shipyard expansion is expected to enhance the state's capabilities in the offshore wind supply chain through improved fabrication and...