Tamil Nadu looks to tap Singaporean firms’ expertise for commercial real estate projects
The Tamil Nadu government is exploring the possibility of working with Singaporean firms on large real estate projects, according to Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.
Referring to his recent discussion with the State Housing Minister, Thiaga Rajan said, “There are two-three flagship projects in Chennai for which they (Housing Ministry) are very much keen to work with Singaporean firms to tap their expertise on commercial real estate.”
He was speaking at NTU Singapore-India Dialogue ‘Partnering with Tamil Nadu for Technology, Innovation & Entrepreneurship’ organised by Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Tuesday.
Visit to Singapore
Thiaga Rajan, who is also the State Minister for Human Resources Management, said that top ministers of the Singapore government have also invited the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and his delegation to visit Singapore and explore business opportunities.
“Technology-wise, I recently had an interaction with the Monetary Authority of Singapore on ways in which we can use fintech to manage our credit risk,” he added.
Academic partnership
In his remarks, Kris Gopalakrishnan, NTU Donor and Chairman of Axilor Ventures, said, in areas of research, it’s always a win-win situation for both Singapore and India.
He also added that one way of measuring India’s academic index is by measuring the country’s citation index. “If both countries were able to do joint PhDs and joint publications, like for instance, between NTU and IIT Madras, that paper would get higher citations and raise the citations for Indian academic institutions.”
Highlighting the natural connection between Singapore and Tamil Nadu, Subra Suresh, President, Nanyang Technological University said Tamil Nadu in general and Chennai in specific are the epicentre of activity in the automotive sector.
“NTU does a lot of cutting-edge research related to the future of the automotive industry. One of our areas of research is the circular economy and renewable energy and this is an area that will play a key role in the future of the automotive industry,” Suresh added.
