Speaking at the event, the chief minister invited the private sector to participate in the global investor event "Emerging Kerala" to be held at Kochi this September. "With14 sectoral conferences this event would open up business opportunities in food and agriculture, aerospace, green energy, financial services, ports, logistics, shipbuilding, IT, biotech amid other sectors."
The chief minister dispelled the impression about labour problems in his state pointing out that in the last year not even a single industrial stoppage had occurred due to strikes. "The labour problem is a past story," he said.
Chandy said that the state was developing a large number of micro and small enterprises rather than going for large industrial projects as it was a densely populated one. He revealed that the Kochi-Palghat-Coimbatore industrial corridor would open up huge opportunities for industrial units and business and trade at the nine industrial and two agro-processing zones. The corridor was expected to generate seven lakh jobs with an outlay of Rs 23,500 crore.
Further, the state is developing a marine park at Beypore for the seafood industry, a Kerala park for coconut at Thrissur, a spices park at Idukki, and two mega food parks in Wayanad and Kinaloor.
With 1,300 food processing units already in the state and a variety of fruits and vegetables and spices available, this is another area the state hopes would attract large-scale investment. The biotechnology support for horticulture and floriculture through biotech parks would further enhance the state's attraction for investment in this field. He added that the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) already had acquired over 400 acres of land for setting up food processing units.
Regarding FDI in retail chains, the chief minister pointed out that Kerala had the highest level of consumption expenditure of the population in the whole country. Its retail sales were well organised and highly innovative. Hence, the government felt that FDI was not needed in Kerala.
