Industries Minister PK Kunhalikutty says that the new Govt. took the ₹300 crore Tata project further

PK Kunhalikutty | Photo credit: H. VIBHU

Industries Minister PK Kunhalikutty said on Saturday that he and Chief Minister VD Satheesan held official discussions with Tata representatives to implement the ₹300 crore project for which the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tata Projects. Addressing the media, Mr. Kunhalikutty said Tata representatives had met the government to discuss the implementation of the project. “This government has taken the project further than the previous government. I will study the project in detail,” he said.

Mr. Kunhalikutty said that after Mr. Satheesan assumed the office of Chief Minister and became Industries Minister, there was an official meeting with the Tata representative. He said that the continuity of development projects will naturally exist despite the change of government. He also pointed out that land belonging to the Cochin Port Authority has already been acquired for the project. However, he emphasized that the proposal promoted by the current government is not identical to the one initiated by the previous government.

The minister also clarified that he had never mentioned the ₹10,000 crore investment that the chief minister had talked about earlier. His remarks came after Tata reportedly said it was not aware of any such investment proposal. The Chief Minister’s Office subsequently clarified that the ₹10,000 crore was for the overall investment the government wanted to attract to Kerala and was not linked to any deal with a single company. Mr Kunhalikutty also said Tata’s version of the matter was “not entirely correct”.

Published – 18 Jul 2026 22:15 IST