SOUTHERN REGION

The Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Old No 2 / New No 17 B Jamals
Jagannathan Road
Nungambakkam
Chennai - 600 034.
Fax: +91 (44) 2824 2399 / 97
Email: iicci.chen@indiaitaly.com

Regional Manager
Ms. D. Sreevidya

Regional Committee

The Chennai Regional Office was first established in 1998 as a desk for Inditalia and upgraded to a regional office in 2000 with a ten-member regional committee of Indo-Italian JVs and companies in the region.

Since 2001 the Southern Region Office has been involved with the leather industry cluster in and around Chennai and collaborated with them in several seminars, workshops and delegations.

From 2002-2006 three projects on fashion training and skills and best practice transfer was carried out for the garments sector with the participation of all the associations and government agencies involved in the sector

The awareness of Italian businessmen of the commercial potential of South India was given a fillip by the annual visit of the Italian ambassador, who has taken a keen interest in the region, while the recent visit of Prime Minister Prodi in February 2007 has also reinforced the interest in the region as well as confirmed its important relationship with Italy in the traditional sectors of leather, textiles and garments as well as the emerging automotive components and manufacturing sectors. The Italian presence in the region has doubled in the last two years.

The Southern Region Office of the Chamber has been playing a significant role in strengthening these relations, receiving several important delegations from Italy and carrying out a number of initiatives especially in the garments sector.

The Chennai regional office has successfully organised the annual flagship event Festa Italiana since 2004 - a delightful flavour of Italy combining, trade, art and culture – so that the Chennai chapter of the chamber is now seen as a centre for multifarious activities. The Italian language classes offered by the chamber are widely recognised and availed of by Indian companies trading with Italy.

Regional Background

Tamil Nadu

The principal food crops include paddy, millets and pulses. Commercial crops include sugarcane, cotton, sunflower, coconut, cashew, chillies, gingelly and groundnut. Plantation crops are tea, coffee, cardamom and rubber. Major forest produces are timber, sandalwood, pulp wood and fuel wood. Tamil Nadu occupies a premier position in the production and extensive application of bio-fertilisers. Efforts are on to improve farming technologies so as to increase yields in the low rainfall areas of the State. Annual foodgrains production exceeds ten million tonnes with rice contributing an average eight million tonnes.

Major industries in Tamil Nadu are heavy commercial vehicles, auto components, railway coaches, power pumps, leather tanning industries, cement, sugar, paper, automobiles and safety matches.

Knowledge based industries like IT and Biotechnology have become the thrust area in the industrial scene in Tamil Nadu. TIDEL, a software technology park, has been established in Tharamani, Chennai. Chennai has currently about 50,000 software professionals employed in 900 IT companies.

Global auto majors Hyundai Motors, Ford, Hindustan Motors and Mitsubishi have commenced production plants. Ashok Leyland and TAFE have set up expansion plants in Chennai. Main mineral wealth of the state is granite, lignite and limestone. The state is an important exporter of tanned skin and leather goods, yarn, tea, coffee, spices, engineering goods, tobacco, handicrafts and black granite. Tamil Nadu contributes 60 per cent of the tannery industry in India. Chennai Refinery Limited has given rise to several petro-based units. Major chemical and fertiliser plants have been established at Cuddalore and Tuticorin.  

Kerala

Kerala is a major producer of coconut, rubber, pepper, cardamom, ginger, cocoa, cashew, aracanut, coffee and tea. Spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, etc., are also cultivated. Rice and tapioca are the important food crops. Coconut is the most important cash crop of Kerala and occupies 41 per cent of net cropped area and provides lively hood to over 3.5 million families. Kerala has a substantial share in the four plantation crops of rubber, coffee, tea and cardamom. The four crops together occupy 6.42 lakh ha accounting for 29 per cent of the net cropped area in the state and 42 per cent of the area in the country.

Kerala is rich in industrial potential and infrastructure facilities such as hydro-electric power, rich forests, rare minerals and an efficient system of transport and communications. Traditional industries are handloom, cashew, coir and handicrafts, other important industries are rubber, tea, ceramics, electric and electronic appliances, telephone cables, transformers, bricks and tiles, drugs, chemicals and general engineering. There are a number of manufacturing units for production of precision instruments, machine tools, petroleum products, paints, pulp paper, newsprint, glass and non-ferrous metals. Principal export products are cashew nut, tea, coffee, spices, lemon grass oil, sea foods, rose wood and coir. The state has an abundance of important minerals like ilmenite, rutile, monozite, zircon, sillimanite, clay and quartz sand.

Kochi is the only city in India having three Special Economic Zones - Electronic Parks at KINFRA in Kalamassery, Cochin SEZs and the Port Based SEZ. Other SEZs - Malappuram Food Park, Technopark, proposed SEZ - Thiruvananthapuram Apparel Park, Film and Video Park, Animation SEZ (First Animation SEZ in India).

Kerala has emerged as the most acclaimed tourist destination in the country. Beaches, warm weather, back waters, hill stations, water falls, wild life, Ayurveda, year–round festivals and diverse flora and fauna make Kerala a unique destination for tourists.