Chennai Industry and Economy
The diversified economic base of Chennai ranges into automobile, software, hardware manufacturing, financial service and healthcare industries. Chennai is a base to about 30% of India’s automobile industry and 35% of the nation’s auto components industry, with some of the reputed player4s in the arena including Hyundai, Ford, BMW, Mitsubishi, The TVS Group (TVS), Ashok Leyland, Nissan-Renault, TI Cycles of India, TAFE Tractors, Royal Enfield, Caterpillar Inc., Caparo, Madras Rubber Factory (MRF) and Michelin, which have set up their manufacturing units in and around Chennai. In addition, the other notable industry segments include the Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi, which produces military vehicles, and the Integral Coach Factory that makes railway coaches and other rolling stock for Indian Railways. The Ambattur-Padi industrial zone and some of the apparel and footwear manufacturers in the south Special Economic Zone produce textile goods. Chennai accounts for over 50% of India’s leather exports. The most famous Tidel Park is one of the many software parks seen across the Chennai City.
Chennai is also an important manufacturing hub for electronics components and appliances with the leaders in the segment being corporations like Dell, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Flextronics and Foxconn. Chennai is responsible for about 14% of India’s software exports, making the city the second largest software exporter of India after Bangalore. Chennai is a home to a range of financial institutions like the World Bank, HSBC, Citi bank, which have their backoffice operations in the region. Some of the reputed healthcare industry champions in the city include Apollo Hospitals, Sankara Nethralaya and Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre, which make the city boast of the best healthcare facilities across the nation in addition to attracting large number of medical tourists from several countries across the globe. In fact, Chennai is emerging as the country’s health capital inviting 45% of health tourists from abroad in addition to 30-40% of domestic health tourists.
