D.V. Venkatagiri, head of the Global Trade Driver consultancy in southern India, is inviting Georgia-based companies to attend a major investment summit in his home city of Chennai.
Chennai is an industrial hub that has attracted many large Indian and foreign manufacturers, including auto makers like Ford, BMW and Daimler, along with major players in a variety of other industrial clusters including aerospace, renewable energy, metals, textiles, electronics, chemicals and more. It’s also one of India’s largest software exporters.
The Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet conference, set for Sept. 9-10, aims to showcase opportunities to foreign investors. Organizers promise interaction with world leaders and Fortune 500 executives.
The state of Tamil Nadu, where Chennai is situated, has received $16 billion in foreign investment since 2000, with more than 50 of the Fortune 500 companies operating there: Dell, Caterpillar, Coca-Cola and Motorola, to name a few. More than 400 Japanese companies and 200 Korean companies have set up shop in Chennai.
At 9 percent, Tamil Nadu’s $80 billion economy is already posting some of the fastest growth rates of any of India’s 29 states. The state is home to 70 million people and has the highest proportion of Indian factories of any single state.
East West Manufacturing, a contract manufacturer based in Atlanta, has set up a sourcing office for forged metal products in Chennai.
Mr. Venkatagiri, who is affiliated with Atlanta-based incubator TransAtlantic Sales LLC has brought delegations to Georgia on multiple occasions over the last five years, aiming to become a conduit for trade and investment in both directions.
From Chennai he has seen an influx of large companies with resources for global expansion but feels that smaller firms are being left out of India’s growth story. He wants to be a bridge for Georgia-based companies in agriculture and beyond to tap into the vast Indian consumer market.
“The forthcoming Global Investors Meet (GIM) in September in Chennai has all the ingredients to ensure the emergence of Tamil Nadu as one of the top destinations in Asia and among the best states in India,” he said.
For more on Mr. Venkatagiri, read: A New India Business Connection for Georgia
For more information on the conference, visit http://tamilnadugim.com.
To contact Mr. Venkatagiri, email him at info@tgtd.biz or projectstgtd@gmail.com.

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