writingonblog uncensored: Tamil Nadu fuel retailers threaten to halt digital...

writingonblog uncensored: Tamil Nadu fuel retailers threaten to halt digital...: CHENNAI: Petrol pump operators in Tamil Nadu are threatening to stop accepting UPI and other digital wallet payments across the state, cit...

Tamil Nadu fuel retailers threaten to halt digital payments over account freezes

CHENNAI:

Petrol pump operators in Tamil Nadu are threatening to stop accepting UPI and other digital wallet payments across the state, citing a growing risk of arbitrary bank account freezes and police action arising from disputed transactions linked to cybercrime investigations.

TNPDA president KP Murali, who wrote a letter to Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, said dealers were being treated as suspects in cybercrime cases despite having no means of verifying the identity or source of funds of customers who pay digitally. The association's roughly 5,000-odd outlets across Tamil Nadu process between 200 and 500 digital transactions a day on average, with digital payments now accounting for more than half of revenue at some stations, according to the letter.

Murali said banks were placing liens on dealers' accounts, and in some cases freezing entire operating accounts, on instructions from cyber-crime authorities investigating disputed transactions — actions he called disproportionate to the underlying disputes. He also cited cases of dealers being picked up during early morning hours and held for questioning without being told the specifics of the transaction under investigation.

The dealers took up digital payments at the urging of public-sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) after demonetisation, in line with the central government's push toward a cashless economy, he said. Platforms cited include Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm.

TNPDA is not opposing cybercrime investigations, Murali said, but is asking the state government to require police and cyber-crime units to give dealers written details of disputed transactions and communicate formally before taking coercive action; to confine any lien or account freeze to the disputed amount rather than the full operating account; and to issue directives against detaining dealers absent evidence of direct wrongdoing. The association has also asked for a standard operating procedure for handling disputed digital transactions at fuel retail outlets, and has requested a meeting with the Chief Minister's office.

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writingonblog uncensored: Tamil Nadu seeks to turn SIPCOT land banks into fu...

writingonblog uncensored: Tamil Nadu seeks to turn SIPCOT land banks into fu...: CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu is seeking to turn its industrial parks from land banks into operating manufacturing hubs, beginning with Manapparai w...

Tamil Nadu seeks to turn SIPCOT land banks into functioning factories

CHENNAI:

Tamil Nadu is seeking to turn its industrial parks from land banks into operating manufacturing hubs, beginning with Manapparai where only four of 32 allotted industrial plots have so far become operational.

Industries and Investment Promotion Minister S Keerthana taking part in a discussion initiated by DMK MLA K N Nehru on Monday said that the 1,097.86-acre Manapparai SIPCOT park had struggled to attract production because of gaps in basic infrastructure, including water, roads, power, public transport and security.

The government has moved to close those gaps after an inspection in May under its SIPCOT Revival Mission, which involved discussions with investors on the obstacles delaying their projects.

Water supply from the Cauvery Water Scheme was extended to all allotted plots from July 7, while a second supply arrangement through Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd has also been put in place. Road and streetlight works are moving ahead, while land has been secured for a proposed 110 kV substation to provide dedicated power capacity.

Bus services to the industrial park have also begun and CCTV infrastructure is being established. The government has separately intervened in company-specific regulatory delays, including expediting a long-pending approval for a PepsiCo unit.

SIPCOT has earmarked Rs 43.6 crore for infrastructure in the new phase, including roads, stormwater drains, culverts and streetlights.

“An industrial park cannot be considered successful merely because land has been acquired and plots have been allotted,” Keerthana said, adding that the real test was whether factories were being established, jobs created and economic activity generated.

writingonblog uncensored: Tamil Nadu shrugs off Andhra Pradesh's investor pi...

writingonblog uncensored: Tamil Nadu shrugs off Andhra Pradesh's investor pi...: CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu shrugged off Andhra Pradesh's upcoming investment outreach event in Coimbatore on August 12, with senior government ...

Tamil Nadu shrugs off Andhra Pradesh's investor pitch in Coimbatore

CHENNAI:

Tamil Nadu shrugged off Andhra Pradesh's upcoming investment outreach event in Coimbatore on August 12, with senior government sources casting the roadshow as routine inter-state competition rather than a threat. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is hosting an Andhra Pradesh Partnership Summit Roadshow, aimed at drawing regional industrial investment to the neighbouring state.

Officials also denied any directive discouraging companies from attending the Andhra event, and accused the opposition and media reports of turning every issue into a negative story about Tamil Nadu. "Other states are free to compete for investment," Industries, Investment Promotion and Commerce Department official sources said. "Tamil Nadu is confident enough in its strengths to compete and focused enough on delivery to win."

Officials noted Andhra Pradesh had run similar campaigns in Chennai before, in 2018 and again in 2023 ahead of its Global Investors Summit in Visakhapatnam, without comparable controversy. "Investors ultimately decide where to locate based on talent, infrastructure, logistics, supply chains, policy stability and ease of doing business," an industries department official said.