Economy of Tamil Nadu It produces the 70 percent of the total salt production in the state and 30 percent in the country. Chennai is nicknamed as "The Detroit of Asia". Chennai is home to large number of auto component industries. Over 11.2% of the "S&P CNX 500" conglomerates have corporate offices in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu has manufacturing facilities from automobiles, railway coaches, battle-tanks, tractors, motorbikes and heavy vehicles to ships. Alstom has a manufacturing facility in Coimbatore which manufactures rail transportation products. MRF the local tyre manufacturer is located in Chennai and Perambalur. TI cycles of Murugappa group have their units in
History of Tamil Nadu Tamil political parties. They exerted pressure on the Indian government to intercede with the Sri Lankan government on behalf of the Sri Lankan Tamilians. However, LTTE lost much of its support from Tamil Nadu following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi on 21 May 1991 by an operative from Sri Lanka for the former prime minister's role in sending Indian peacekeepers to Sri Lanka to disarm the LTTE. The east coast of Tamil Nadu was one of the areas affected by the Indian Ocean earthquake of 2004, during which almost 8000 people died in the disaster. The sixth most populous state