Agriculture and Irrigation

Tamil Nadu has historically been one of the agricultural states; its advances in other fields launched the state into competition with other states. Even so, Tamil Nadu is a leading producer of agricultural products in India. At present, Tamil Nadu is India's second biggest producer of Rice, next to Punjab where there is perennial source of irrigation. The Cauvery delta region of the composite Thanjavur District is known as the Rice Bowl of South India. Tamil Nadu accounts for nearly 6% of the area under fruits and 4% of the area under vegetables in the country. In terms of production, the State’s share is nearly 10% in fruits and 6% in vegetables. Tamil Nadu is also a leading state in the production of flowers. The total production of horticultural crips is 99.47 Lakhs during 2003-04. The main flowers grown in Tamil Nadu are Jasmine, Mullai, Chrysanthemum, Marigold and Rose. Mango and Banana are the leading fruit crops in Tamil Nadu accounting for over 84% of the area under fruit and over 87% of the total fruit production. Off-season production of mango and round-the-year production of grapes is unique to Tamil Nadu. The main vegetables grown are tapioca, tomato, onion, brinjal and drumstick.

The state is the largest producer of bananas, flowers, tapioca, the second largest producer of Mango, coffee, natural rubber, coconut, groundnut and the third largest producer or sapota, Tea, and Sugarcane. Tamil Nadu is also a leading producer of spices, kambu, corn, rye and oil seeds. The main spices grown are chillies, coriander, tamarind, turmeric and curry leaves. Tamil Nadu's sugarcane yield per hectare is the highest in India. A host of sugar companies have their operations here including EID Parry I Ltd., Thiru Arooran Sugars Ltd., Sakthi Sugars Ltd., Bannari Amman Sugars Ltd. and Rajshree sugars Ltd. The state has 17,000 hectares of land under oil palm cultivation, the second highest in India. Currently, Tamil Nadu is the only state to have a formal bio-diesel policy using jatropha plant crops and to distribute wasteland to the poor farmers for planting.

Tamil Nadu is the home to Dr M S Swaminathan, known as the "father of the Green Revolution" in India. Tamil Nadu Agricultural University with its seven colleges and thirty two research stations spread over the entire state contributes to evolving new crop varieties and technologies and disseminating through various extension agencies. The net sown area is 36% of the total geographic area (National average of 46%). The gross cropped area is 53,200 km² with a cropping intensity of 119. Irrigation covers 46% of the cropped area and the remaining 54% is rain-fed. Tamil Nadu's agriculture is heavily dependent on river water and monsoon rains.

Irrigated Agriculture Modernization and Water-bodies Restoration and Management (IAMWARM) project is a World Bank aided project being implemented in Tamil Nadu at a cost of INR 2500 crores. Duration of the project April 1st 2007 to March 31st 2013. The main aim of the project is to restore the existing 40319 tanks to save water to their full capacity as it was created by ancient forefathers of tamilnadu some 2000 years before.

Livestock, poultry and fisheries

Among states in India, Tamil Nadu is one of the leaders in livestock, poultry and fisheries. The town of Namakkal is also known as the poultry hub.

With the third longest coastline in India, Tamil Nadu is also among the leaders in fisheries and in the production and exports of related products. For the year 2005-2006, total inland fish catchment was 155,944 tonnes and marine fish catchment stood at 389,714 tonnes. For the same period, the total fish and fishery products exported by the state was 72,418 tonnes which was valued at Rs. 19.96 billion. This figure represented 27.54% of the total value of fish and fishery products exported by India for that period.

Industry

Tamil Nadu is a highly industrialised state. Many heavy engineering and manufacturing-based companies are centred in and around the suburbs of Chennai (nicknamed, "The Detroit of Asia"). Chennai boasts the presence of global vehicle manufacturing giants like Ford, Renault -Nissan, Caterpillar, Hyundai, Komatsu, BMW and Mitsubishi as well as domestic heavyweights like MRF, TI Cycles, Ashok Leyland, Royal Enfield, Mahindra & Mahindra (JV with Renault-Nissan to produce Logan brand of cars), TAFE Tractors, and TVS. It also has a railway coach factory,ICF (Integral Coach Factory) .Recently in an equal joint venture agreement, Renault and Nissan have decided to invest Rs. 4,500 crore ($1,140 million) to set up an integrated greenfield automotive facility at Oragadam near Chennai. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed with the Government of Tamil Nadu in February 2008. The project will come up on 678 acres and will provide vehicle production platforms for the two car-makers. It will also have powertrain facility. The plant will have an installed capacity of four lakh vehicles annually. The facility is expected to go on stream in 2010.Recently an MoU has been signed between Daimler - Hero Motors for establishing a truck manufacturing plant in Oragadam with an investment of Rs 4,400 crores ($1,100 million).This project would give a fillip to the manufacturing sector in Tamil Nadu, especially in the area of automobiles and auto components and help consolidate Chennai's position as the leading location for automobile production and related industries in India. This is due to the aggressive marketing by the officials of the state. Everything from automobiles, railway coaches, battle-tanks, tractors, motorcycles and heavy vehicles are manufactured in the state. Sterlite Industries have their copper smelter (in Tuticorin) and aluminium (in Mettur) factories here. A large number of textile mills and engineering industries are present around the city of Coimbatore. Coimbatore is also headquarters for Pricol, LMW, ELGI, Suguna and Bromark PioneerPoultry. Karur is well known for its beautiful world class bus body building industries where most of the buses used in south India are manufactured, and truck bodies are built in Namakkal near by karur. Over 11.2% of the S&P CNX 500 conglomerates have corporate offices in Tamil Nadu. The Kalpakkam Nuclear Power Plant, Ennore Thermal Plant, Neyveli Lignite Power Plant, many hydroelectric plants including Mettur and the Narimanam Natural Gas Plants are major sources of Tamil Nadu's electricity. It is presently adding the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant to its energy grid. Tamil Nadu sources a significant proportion of its power needs from renewable sources with wind power installed capacity at over 3600 MW or over 40% of the maximum peak demand. As of 2005, Tamil Nadu is one of the few Indian states with surplus power electricity, enabling the electrical authority to sell it to neighbouring states of Andra Pradesh & Karnataka. Tamil Nadu ranks first nationwide in diesel-based thermal electricity generation with national market share of over 34%.

The textile industry plays a significant role in the Indian economy by providing direct employment to an estimated 35 million people, and thereby contributing 4% of GDP and 35% of Gross Export Earnings. The textile sector contributes to 14% of the manufacturing sector. There are a lot of Textile mills located in Coimbatore. The city of Tirupur (Coimbatore District), in Tamil Nadu is the country's largest exporter of cotton knitwear and sometimes referred to as Textile Valley of India. In 2004, the export turnover from the town was more than Rs. 50,000 million ($1,000 million). Some 7,000 garment units in the town provides employment opportunity to 7,50,000 people. 56% of India's total knitwear exports come from Tirupur. The Export Import Policy of 2002-2007 acknowledges Tirupur for its contribution to the export efforts. Next to Tirupur, the city of Karur generates around (3,500 million) $750 million a year in foreign exchange and give the opportunity to 3,00,000 peoples for work. The Karur exports of Home-Textile products such as bed linens, kitchen linens, toilet linens, table linens and wall hangings. Madurai and Kanchipuram are famous for their handloom and silk saris.

Electronics manufacturing is a growing industry in Tamil Nadu. Companies like Nokia, Flextronics, Motorola, Sony-Ericsson, Foxconn, Samsung, Cisco and Dell have chosen Chennai as their South Asian manufacturing hub. Products manufactured include circuit boards and cellular phone handsets. Ericsson also has a Research and Development facility in Chennai. Big EPC companies have set up their Engineering centres which include Saipem I Project Services ltd, Technip, Foster Wheeler, Mott Mecdonald, Petrofac and Technimont. The Austrian company Austrian Energy and Environment also have a design office here besides local giant ECC {Larsen & Toubro}. Sanmina - SCI is the latest company to invest in Tamil Nadu to create a state of the art manufacturing facility. Nokia Siemens Networks has decided to build a manufacturing plant for wireless network equipment in Tamil Nadu.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, a global electrical equipment manufacturing public sector company, has manufacturing plants at Tiruchirapalli and Ranipet. The construction industry also saw new entrants like BGR Energy systems ltd, Consolidated construction consortium.

The state government owns the Tamil Nadu Newsprint and papers(TNPL), the world's biggest bagasse based Paper mills in Karur . as well as the world's sixth largest manufacturer of watches together with TATA at Hosur, at hosur, under the brand name of "Titan". 55% of all wind-generated electricity in India is created by windmills in Tamil Nadu. Renowned Danish wind power company NEG Micon has established its manufacturing unit in Chennai.

Tamil Nadu is a leading producer of Cement in India. It is the home of leading cement brands in the country such as Chettinad Cements (in Karur), Dalmia Cements (in Ariyalur), Ramco cements (Madras Cement Ltd), India cements (in Sankari, Ariyalur), Grasim etc. Big companies like MICO and Cognizant solutions have set up their design offices here. L&T is setting up big manufacturing units with an investment of 500 crores. Even temple city Madurai has attracted Honeywell to set up their centre here.

The town of Sivakasi is a leader in the areas of printing, fireworks, and safety matches. It was fondly called as Kutty Japan or "little Japan" by Jawaharlal Nehru. It contributes to 80% of India's production of safety matches as well as 90% of India's total fireworks production. Sivakasi provides over 60% of India's total offset printing solutions and ranks as one of the highest taxpaying towns in India. Sivakasi also is a 100% employed town, putting it in the company of very few towns in India.

Tamil Nadu has a significant amount of mineral reserves such as lignite (87%),vermiculite (66%), garnet (42%),zircon (38%), graphite (33%),ilmenite (28%), rutile (27%), monazite (25%), and magnesite (17%). The numbers in the brackets indicate the percentage contribution to the national share. India's leading steel producer,SAIL has a steel plant in
Salen.

Tamil Nadu is a leading contributor in the IT and BPO sectors. Tamil Nadu is the third largest software exporter by value in India, second only to Karnataka and Maharashtra. India's largest IT park is in Chennai. Software exports from Tamil Nadu more than doubled from Rs. 76 billion ($1.6 billion) in 2003-04 to Rs. 141.15 billion {$3.53 billion} in 2005-06 and zoomed to Rs. 207 billion {$5 billion} by 2006-07 according to NASSCOM. Chennai is a hub for e-publishing with 47 e-publishing units registered with the STPI in Chennai. Companies such as eBay, Compute sciences, sciences corporation, virtusa, HCL, Wipro, TCS, Satyam, Infosys, Polaris Software Lab, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Acme Technology Pvt Ltd, Covansys, Capgemini, Ford Information Technology, Xansa, Changepond, Verizon, isoft, iNautix, Mphasis(Electronic Data Systems) , Bally and many others have offices in Chennai. Infosys Technologies has set up India's largest software development centre to house 25,000 software professionals at an estimated investment of Rs. 12,500 million ($270 million) in Chennai. Chennai is also the preferred destination for companies outsourcing their high-end knowledge intensive operations. Testimony to this is the presence of major market research companies such as Frost & Sullivan and equity research companies such as Irevna in Chennai. This is the next high growth area that Chennai is witnessing.

Tamil Nadu Cuisine

Tamil cuisine has one of the oldest culinary heritages in the world. Traditionally, food is served on banana leaf. Rice is the staple food of Tamils. Traditional Tamil cuisine includes Dosai, Idly Vadai, Pongal, Uthappam. These dishes are served along with Sambar, Rasam, Kootu, Aviyal, Chatni and Poriyal. Traditionally prepared Filter Coffee is quite famous, which is unique in taste. The Chettinad region is famous for its spicy non-vegetarian cuisine. The Tirunelveli region is also famous for its unique wheat halwa. The fast food culture is witnessing a steady growth in Tamil Nadu in recent years.

Music, Dance and Arts of Tamil Nadu

Music

The Kings of the olden days created sangams for Iyal Isai Nadagam (Literature, Music and Drama). Music plays a major role in sangams. Music in Tamil Nadu had different forms. In villages where farming was the primary work, the ladies who work in the fields used to sing kulavai songs. Odhuvars, Sthanikars or Kattalaiyars offer short musical programmes in the temples by singing the devotional Thevaram songs. In sharp contrast with the restrained and intellectual nature of carnatic music, Tamil folk music tends to be much more exuberant. Popular forms of Tamil folk music include the Villuppāṭṭu, a form of music performed with a bow, and the Nattuppurappattu, ballads that convey folklore and folk history. Some of the leading Tamil folk artists in the early 21st century are Pushpuvanam Kuppuswamy, Dr Navaneethakrishnan, Chinnaponnu, Paravai muniammal etc.

Carnatic music is the classical music of Southern India. The basic form is a monophonic song with improvised variations. There are 72 basic scales on the octave, and a rich variety of melodic motion. Both melodic and rhythmic structures are varied and compelling. This is one of the world's oldest & richest musical traditions. Carnatic music abounds in structured compositions in the different ragas. These are songs composed by great artists and handed down through generations of disciples. Three saint composers of the nineteenth century, Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri, have composed thousands of songs that remain favourites among musicians and audiences. The composers belonging to the Tamil Trinity of Muthu Thandavar (?1560 - ?1640 CE), Arunachala Kavi (1712-1779) and Marimutthu Pillai (1717-1787) composed hundreds of devotional songs in Tamil and helped in the evolution of Carnatic music. Today, Tamil Nadu has hundreds of notable carnatic singers who spread this music all over the world. M.S. Subbulakshmi, a renowned carnatic singer, had the honour of singing a song in the UN Security Council.

In terms of modern music (light, film, pop, etc.), the music of Tamil Nadu is praised very highly. Ilaiyaraaja was the most prominent composer of film music in Tamil cinema during the late 1970s and 1980s. His work highlighted Tamil folk lyricism and introduced broader Western musical sensibilities to the South Indian musical mainstream. Tamil Nadu is also the home of A. R. Rahman who is recognised worldwide and has composed film music in both Tamil and Hindi Films.

Arts and Dance

Tamils have a large number of folk dances. These are performed for every possible occasion, to celebrate the arrival of seasons, birth of a child, weddings and festivals. Tamil dance is closely intertwined with the Tamil theatrical tradition. The most celebrated of these is Karakattam. In its religious form, the dance is performed in front of an image of the goddess Mariamman. The dancer bears on his or her head a brass pot filled with uncooked rice, decorated with flowers and surrounded by a bamboo frame, and tumbles and leaps to the rhythm of a song without spilling a grain. Karakattam is usually performed to a special type of song known as temmanguppattu or thevar pattu, a folk song in the mode of a lover speaking to his beloved, to the accompaniment of a nadaswaram and melam. Other Tamil folk dances include mayilattam, where the dancers tie a string of peacock feathers around their waist; oyilattam, danced in a circle while waving small pieces of cloth of various colours; poykkal kuthirayaattam, where the dancers use dummy horses; manatta, where the dancers imitate the graceful leaping of deer; paraiyatam, a dance to the sound of rhythmical drumbeats, and thippandattam, a dance involving playing with burning wooden torches.

Bharatanatyam is a classical dance form originating from Tamil Nadu. Bharatanatyam is thought to have been created by Bharata Muni, a Hindu sage, who wrote the Natya Shastra, the most important ancient treatise on classical Indian dance. In ancient times it was performed as dasiattam by Hindu temple Devadasis. In this form, it as also been called sadir or chinna melam. Many of the ancient sculpturs in Hindu temples are based on Bharata Natyam dance postures. Bharatanatyam is a traditional dance-form known for its grace, purity, tenderness, and sculpturesque poses. It continues to be a popular and widely performed dance style at present times and is practised by male and female dancers all over India. Therukoothhu (street dance) is a folk tradition of dance-drama.

Film Industry

Tamil Nadu is also home to the Tamil Film Industry, the second largest film industry in India after Bollywood (Hindi films). It is based in Chennai and is a conflation of Hollywood and Kodambakkam, the section of Chennai that houses cinema-related facilities.