M K Stalin selects site near Chennai for TN’s ‘financial city’

The Tamil Nadu government's proposed 'financial city' is expected to come up on 180 acres of land at Sholinganallur and Perumbakkam, along the IT Expressway near Chennai.

Deputy chief minister M K Stalin inspected the site on Saturday along with various officials, after which he said the city would offer ''world-class infrastructure''. The government was studying other successful financial cities abroad, including the one in Singapore, for this purpose, he added.

The land for the proposed city was identified by the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, which is the nodal agency for the project. The government is in a position to readily take possession of this land.

Stalin told newspersons the project was likely to be implemented in phases, based on the recommendations of the feasibility study. The government has appointed KPMG as the consultant and set up a core advisory team to prepare the blueprint for the project, an official release said.

Stalin said the financial city would initially focus on attracting core financial activities such as banking, insurance, re-insurance, risk management, actuarial services, wealth management services, etc.

The city could also house IT product and solution vendor teams to specifically cater to the needs of these financial institutions, and include IT infrastructure management and customer servicing for the financial institutions. It would also have training centres, staff training colleges and relevant educational institutions, he said.

The financial city is considered a pet project of Stalin, and is expected to be the next growth lever for Tamil Nadu after the automobile, IT and healthcare sectors, which have attracted large investments in the recent past.