'Tamil Nadu attracted highest investment proposals in 2013-14'

Chennai, Oct 29: Tamil Nadu led the country in terms of number of investment proposals from the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) for the financial year 2013-14, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has said.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, the industry lobby body said Tamil Nadu garnered the highest share -- over 32 percent in the total number of investment proposals from the MSME sector across the country for the 2013-14 fiscal.

"Gujarat (16.2 percent), Uttar Pradesh (12.5 percent), Karnataka (7.2 percent) and Maharashtra (5.5 percent) were among top five states in terms of state-wise distribution of entrepreneur memorandum (part-II) filed by the MSME sector in India," Assocham said, citing its study 'States Emergence: A comparative analysis of growth & development'.

In terms of simple growth, the MSMEs entrepreneur memorandum received by Tamil Nadu grew by 178.5 percent from about 41,800 in 2009-10 to over 1,16,390 in 2013-14, noted the study prepared by the Assocham Economic Research Bureau.

"MSME sector is the 'engine of growth' for developing economies, as such there is a need to lay special thrust on this sector as it serves multiple objectives of employment generation, regional dispersal of industries and as a seedbed for entrepreneurship," D.S. Rawat, national secretary general of Assocham was quoted as saying in the statement.

IANS