Mausam Kumar, Benjamin Bradlow, and Vishnu Venugopalan in Phenomenal World:
In a world of geopolitical realignments, Apple has been pursuing a “China plus one” strategy. As the company, like other global corporations, aims to shift its supplier-base away from China, India has emerged as an apparent beneficiary. Over the last few years, a sizable base of Apple suppliers has sprung up in India and a large share of these are based in Tamil Nadu. Apple is not alone in finding the southernmost state in India attractive.
While there remains a debate around the role of manufacturing versus services in India’s economic trajectory, a disaggregated state-level analysis shows signs of resilience and momentum in India’s manufacturing story, shedding light on its distinct subnational geography. Amid India’s grand ambitions for manufacturing growth in the twenty-first century, Tamil Nadu stands out as an outlier. Estimates show that the share of manufacturing in Tamil Nadu’s Gross State Value Addition (GSVA) stands at over 24 percent. Tamil Nadu’s manufacturing prowess is also evident in its share of factories in the country. The Annual Survey of Industries 2022–23 shows that the state is home to over 31,517 factories, accounting for around 16 percent of the national total. Tamil Nadu ranks first in the number of factories in the country, with Gujarat in second, and Maharashtra in third. Out of a total factory employment of 18.5 million, the state accounts for one out of every seven manufacturing jobs in the country.
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