On 26th May, Mr. R. Ramkumar, Chairman – Tamil Nadu Chapter, AMCHAM and Mr. Aubrey Daniels, Regional Director – Tamil Nadu Chapter, AMCHAM, had a meeting with Ms. Shipla Prabhakar Satish, Executive Vice Chairperson, Tamil Nadu Guidance Bureau, to explore ways by which AMCHAM can work with the government of Tamil Nadu and also to open a channel by which American companies can find solutions to challenges in business operations in the state.

Mr. Ramkumar spoke about what MNC’s see as the strengths of the state and how they have located here and created many hundreds of thousands of jobs by bringing in foreign direct investment. He added that there is a trend in Tamil Nadu where manufacturing companies are co-locating their business process offices, engineering and design centers in the same city where the manufacturing facilities exist. He cited the examples of Ford and Caterpillar. Mr. Ramkumar said that American companies would be willing to participate in the next Global Investor Meet scheduled for 2018. He also thanked the Tamil Nadu government for resolving some of the legacy issues such as the nomenclature and classification as IT products manufactured by NCR Corporation. He also requested the government to consider early resolution to the long pending VAT reimbursements and also procedural clearances by statutory bodies such as the Pollution Control Board and the local governments.

In her response, Ms. Shilpa Prabhakar Satish requested AMCHAM to send her a note on all pending issues faced by American companies, however small, including issues like delays in receiving clearances and renewals from government departments. She said that she would take up these issues during the monthly inter department meetings and keep sending reminders till they have been resolved. Referring to the peaceful industrial climate in the state, the Executive Vice Chairperson stated that the government would not let the labour situation go out of control. To this Mr. Ramkumar responded by saying that clients in the West were very cautious about the labour situation and that they would move their jobs and projects to states where the situation was more peaceful. Ms. Shilpa Prabhakar Satish appreciated this point of view and said that the government is in the process of bringing out its new industrial policy and also re-vitalising the ‘single window’ in a bid to make the ease of doing business what it should be to attract investments into Tamil Nadu.

AMCHAM invited the Executive Vice Chairperson to address members at a breakfast meeting any time during July to September.