Chennai: Buoyed by success of their investments in China and Vietnam, several Singaporean companies are open to the idea of setting up distributed manufacturing facility in India.

According to Dr Balaji Sadasivam, senior minister of state for foreign affairs, government of Singapore "They are keen to invest in Tamil Nadu to tap the large pool of skilled manpower."

In an interactive session organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the city, Dr Sadasivam said that Singapore''s experiment with China and Vietnam has proved to be successful with a significant investment have been already made in the special manufacturing zones setup in these countries. Citing the model of the manufacturing cluster created at China at over 70,000 acres for the Singapore companies, Dr Sadasivam said that the governments of Singapore and Tamil Nadu are keen on creating a large scale manufacturing cluster - on the lines of the proposed Singapore India Economic Zone - in the state.

He said that there is a potential and the need to create at least three such zones in India , out of which at least one will be located in Tamil Nadu. Placing confidence over the improved political and business relations between both the countries, Dr Sadasivam said that the Singapore companies are keen to recruit Indian engineers and there has been a positive approach from the government on the migration issues. Taking note of the improved air connectivity between India and Singapore over the past three years, the minister said that his government would actively work to create the "air corridor" between Singapore and the tier II cities in Tamil Nadu. Citing the upgradation of Singapore Consulate in Chennai to Consulate General Dr Sadasivam said, "It is very important for Singapore to directly deal with the southern states of India. This will help in strengthening the existing bilateral linkages and also to move ahead on the proposed Singapore India Special Economic Zone".