CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has retained its position as India’s third-largest exporting state for the third consecutive year, with merchandise exports rising from $43.2 billion in 2023-24 to $58.9 billion in 2025-26, Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal told Lok Sabha. Tamil Nadu accounts for 13% of the India’s total exports.The minister was responding to a query from DMK MLAs, G Selvam and Rani Srikumar on the state’s contribution to the overall merchandise and service exports of the country. TN’s export performance was driven by strong growth across key manufacturing sectors, particularly electronics, textiles and engineering goods.Electronics exports nearly doubled to $19.97 billion in 2025-26, giving the state a 41.63% share in India’s total electronics exports. The state also remained a major contributor in traditional export sectors, accounting for 35.59% of India’s leather exports, 33.38% of motor vehicle exports and 23.13% of textiles and allied product exports during the year.“Union govt is taking several key steps to strengthen export infrastructure, logistics, ports, industrial corridors, and ease of doing business across the country,” Goyal said. On export infrastructure, he said 13 projects were completed in TN under the Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme.Since 2014-15, 94 port projects worth ₹12,523 crore were implemented in the state. Goyal said Union govt undertook the ‘reducing compliance burden’ initiative, under which 2,521 compliances were reduced in TN. The ‘national single window system’ was set up to provide end-to-end facilitation and support to investors, while the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan enables data-based decisions for integrated planning of multi-modal infrastructure.Former industries minister T R B Rajaa told TOI that the achievements were powered not merely via national schemes but by DMK’s focused policy interventions including matching incentives under the electronics components manufacturing scheme, building of advanced manufacturing ecosystems and expansion of industrial infrastructure and export-oriented investments.Between 2021 and 2026, he said, TN aggressively expanded its industrial ecosystem through major sectoral policies, global investor outreach, world-class industrial parks, logistics upgrades, faster clearances, upskilling through schemes like ‘Naan Mudhalvan’ and strengthening Guidance Tamil Nadu. “There was sustained focus on converting MoUs into operational factories. One must remember all of this growth was ensured while global trade headwinds were heavy and while Delhi wasn’t too friendly either,” Rajaa said.
