With consistent government investment on education, infrastructure, Tamil Nadu is poised for growth: experts

The Tamil Nadu government has been consistently investing on education and infrastructure for over decades, said Julian Francis, senior vice-president, Asset Management, Chennai, and head of Industrial and Logistics (I&L) at RMZ during The Hindu Tamil Nadu Real Estate Summit 2025 held in Chennai on Tuesday (August 5, 2025).

While speaking at a session on ‘Tamil Nadu @ $1 Trillion: Role of Real Estate in Urban Transformation’, he said, Tamil Nadu has worked on these fields for decades. “Today, people are coming to India for skill and scale. This is culminating in the creation of local talent which people are globally tapping into today. This target of 2030 [by Tamil Nadu] to become a $1 Trillion economy] is definitely achievable,” he added.

Kunal Shankar, Deputy Business Editor, The Hindu, who was the moderator for the event steered the conversation on how Tamil Nadu’s real estate sector is a crucial pillar in its ambition to become a one trillion-dollar economy.

W.S. Habib, president, CREDAI Tamil Nadu said, while it is an ambitious target, the State government has come out with a good vision, and it is possible to accomplish it. “Real estate sector plays an important role since it contributes 7-8 percent to the GDP,” he added. He noted that if we have to reach the target, our cities also have to be more liveable and planned well.

Jerry Kingsley, Head of Value and Risk Advisory in India and City Capital Markets, Chennai JLL, said, commercial real estate sector, in a year, sees 75-80 million sq. ft of demand in India. “Of that, Bengaluru is the frontrunner with close to 20 million sq. ft. This is followed by National Capital Region (NCR) which contributes about 15 million sq. feet. Mumbai too is a sizeable contributor. But, Chennai competes with Hyderabad and Pune on an annual basis. Last two years has been pretty good for Chennai overall and there was an absorption of nearly 8-9 million sq. ft. We see that demand this year as well,” he added.

With metro rail coming up, there is further expansion and the office segment in the city is seeing good growth. He said, the good thing about Tamil Nadu is that, unlike many other States, it is not dependent on one specific sector.

W.S. Habib, President, CREDAI Tamil Nadu, Jerry Kingsley, Head of Value & Risk Advisory in India & City Capital Markets, Chennai JLL, Julian Francis, Senior Vice-President – Asset Management, Chennai, and Head of Industrial & Logistics (I&L) at RMZ, Sripriya Ganesan, Co-founder of Studio Neon Attic, C.G. Sathish, Deputy Managing Director, Casagrand during a session moderated by Kunal Shankar, Deputy Business Editor of The Hindu at The Hindu Tamil Nadu Real Estate Summit 2025 in Chennai on August 5, 2025
| Photo Credit:
M. Srinath

C.G. Sathish, Deputy Managing Director, Casagrand said, there is a lot of development and the focus on infrastructure development is extremely good. Hence, Tamil Nadu is poised to witness this kind of growth.

Sripriya Ganesan, co-founder, Studio Neon, noted that transit-oriented development in the State has to be mindfully planned.

The event is presented by Casagrand and co-presented by G Square. The green energy partner is Swelect and the sports ecosystem partners are SDAT and Tamil Nadu Champions Foundation. The event is supported by CREDAI Tamil Nadu, Lancor, Namma Family Group. The strategic partner is MMA (Madras Management Association). The TV partner is Puthiya Thalaimurai and the digital partner is The Federal.