Tamil Nadu will be hosting the state’s second global investors’ meet next year.

Announcing this at a CII’s Southern Regional Conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, the Chief Minister said the next Global Investors Meet (GIM) will be held in 2018.

The first GIM was held under the leadership of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2015.

Palaniswami said that out of the 98 Memorandum of Understanding signed during the first GIM involving an investment of Rs.2.42 lakh crore, 61 projects were under various stages of implementation involving an investment of Rs.62,738 crore.

Palaniswami said the government is planning policy changes and strengthening infrastructure to take the state to another level when it comes to development. Necessary policy changes and simplification of norms for setting up industries are on the cards, the chief minister said adding preference will be given to the projects that give preference to the development of human resources.

The first GIM had attracted an investment promise, worth Rs Rs 2,42,160 crore and the government had signed 98 MOUs at that time.

Then the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had said that the investment proposals exceeded the cumulative investment attracted through all MoUs signed by the state government over the 20 year period from 1991 to 2011.

Of the total investment Rs 1,04,286 crore is in manufacturing and of which 50 per cent will be in southern districts. Jayalaithaa said attractive package of incentives to encourage investors to go to southern districts of Tamil Nadu. This strategy has paid rich dividends.

Power sector had attracted Rs 1,07,136 crore, IT sector attracted Rs 10,950 crore, handloom sector Rs 1,955 crore, Agriculture sector Rs 800 crore and Rs 500 crore in fisheries.

According to government sources, solar energy attracted Rs 35,356 crore and total capacity of 5,345 mega watt will be added.