Competition was closer and the playing field more level in the regions section of fDi%u2019s contest, with the Indian state of Tamil Nadu edging ahead of Australia%u2019s New South Wales to claim the title Asian Region of the Future 2005/06. Tamil Nadu took first place in the all-important category of best FDI potential.
As investors such as Ford, Hyundai, Nokia and, most recently, BMW have discovered to their delight, Tamil Nadu has managed to avoid or mitigate problems that dog other locations in India, such as infrastructure and energy failings. Through pro-active and business friendly government policies, the state has harmonious industrial relations, a matured business culture and abundant skilled manpower.
Things should only get better: several new fly-overs and by-passes are under construction that will ease traffic congestion in heaving Chennai, and an %u2018IT Expressway%u2019 project will widen the main access road to that city%u2019s thriving software cluster. This hints at Tamil Nadu%u2019s real secret weapon: Chennai%u2019s IT corridor employs nearly 50,000 people, and this number is set to increase to as much as 90,000 when some of the major IT companies investing there get their operations up and running.
