International university looking to set up campus in Tamil Nadu, says Palanivel Thiaga Rajan
Tamil Nadu Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said on Monday (May 5, 2025) that an international university is looking to set up a campus in Tamil Nadu.
Speaking at an industry event, the Minister said he attended a meeting with Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday, wherein officials from the university had participated.
'When I was Finance Minister, in my Budget speech, I had announced that a knowledge city would be developed through international collaboration,' Mr. Thiaga Rajan said, addressing the 7th Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) Smart Datacenters and Cloud Infrastructure Conclave 2025, with the theme, 'Empowering Global Digital Change: Tamil Nadu's Data & Cloud Vision'.
'The knowledge city will come up in 2,000 acres, where we will have a smart sustainable hub of academia, tech, fintech, and living arrangements. The university meeting this morning was part of this discussion,' he said. Mr. Thiaga Rajan, however, did not mention the name of the university.
An official note from the State government earlier in the day said Diane Smith-Gander, Chancellor, University of Western Australia, and Jennifer Howell, Pro-Vice Chancellor, met Mr. Stalin and held discussions.
Mr. Thiaga Rajan also pointed out that Tamil Nadu's gross enrolment ratio in higher education has increased to over 50% in the last four years, from around 45-46%, when the DMK government assumed office. This was enabled particularly through programmes that incentivised unprivileged girls from the government schools to join higher education, he said.
Mr. Thiaga Rajan said one of the key strengths of Tamil Nadu is its human capital, and along with it an overall development makes the State an attractive investment destination.
'I think Tamil Nadu will be well-positioned as the innovation hub. We have a lot of data, data centres, and many talented people, and these are the building blocks for innovation and AI,' he said.
Knowledge report released
Mr. Thiaga Rajan also released a knowledge report by ASSOCHAM and audit firm PwC.
As per the knowledge report, Tamil Nadu, particularly Chennai, is emerging as a significant data centre hub in India.
The Chennai data centre market is projected to grow from 202.43 MW in 2025 to 551.15 MW by 2030, at a compounded annual growth rate of 22.18%. This growth is driven by the city's strategic location, robust infrastructure, and supportive government policies. The Tamil Nadu Data Centre Policy 2021 provides incentives such as tax benefits, land subsidies, and power tariff concessions, further boosting the market, it said.
Surajit Chatterjee, Managing Director, Data Centre, India, CapitaLand Investment and Co- Chair, ASSOCHAM National Council on Data Centres, Max Parry, Head - Business Development, Equinix APAC, Ashok Mysore, President, CtrlS Datacenters Ltd, Jatinder Singh Pabla, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, STT GDC India and Co-Chair, ASSOCHAM National Council on Data Centers, among others, spoke at the event.
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