Chennai, Dec 8 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu government has reduced the prices of plots at Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO) estates across the state to make them affordable to small and medium industries that come under the MSME bracket.

Industries department of Tamil Nadu officials on Tuesday said that this move was to improve industrial investments in the state to achieve the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin's wish of Tamil Nadu becoming a trillion-dollar economy by 2030.

However, in Chennai and three adjoining districts Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, and Tiruvallur the price band was retained at that of 2016-17 rates. In many other SIDCO parks, the rates have come down by 5 per cent and 50 per cent and in some places, up to 75 per cent reduction was offered.

In the recent industrial conclaves held in Chennai and Coimbatore, the state government had signed MoU's with several companies for investments valued at more than 1 lakh crore. The move to reduce the prices was following innumerable representations from industries during these conclaves as well as separate memorandums to reduce prices of plots at industrial estates in the state.

SIDCO is bound by the Tamil Nadu government rules and has to sell plots as per the norms set by the state government. SIDCO has been developing industrial estates in the state for the past five decades and earlier the prices of SIDCO plots were increased by 10 per cent to 15 per cent every year based on certain parameters.

The norm-based increase in price of SIDCO plots had taken the toll on small and medium industries who bought plots outside of the park and developed on their own and SIDCO was sitting on a huge tract of land with no takers.

The Government order issued on Tuesday said that SIDCO has in its possession, 1311 plots and 371 acres of unsold land, and to sell this land at a reasonable rate the value unlocked can be used to develop new industrial estates.