Mahindra World City near Chennai © wikipedia
Mahindra World City near Chennai © wikipedia

Tamil Nadu has been ranked on top in attracting investment proposals filed by the micro, small and medium enterprises, industry body Assocham has said.

“Tamil Nadu garnered highest share of over 32% in the total number of over 3.62 lakh entrepreneurs memorandum filed the MSMEs across India in 2013-14”, the chamber said in its study – States Emergence: A comparative analysis of growth and development.

Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra followed Tamil Nadu in attracting investment proposals at 16.2%, 12.5%, 7.2% and 5.5%, respectively.

In terms of memorandum received from MSMEs, Tamil Nadu has registered over 100% growth to 178.5% from 41,800 applications in 2009-2010 to 1.16 lakh in 2013-14.

Annually, the memorandum filed by entrepreneurs grew by 29%, it said.

“MSME sector is the engine of growth for developing economies, as such there is a need to lay special thrust on this sector”, Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.

“A large proportion of MSMEs are unregistered, with a large number of them being established in the informal or unorganised sector which keeps commercial banks away from lending to this sector”, Rawat added.