Chennairuns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Automotive manufacturing
Hyundai, Renault-Nissan, Ashok Leyland, TVS, Daimler India
Chennai produces a very large share of India's car exports and is often called the Detroit of India — Hyundai's Indian manufacturing is based here and the supplier ecosystem around it is vast.
Technology & IT services
TCS, Infosys, Cognizant, Zoho, Freshworks, Accenture
The OMR corridor is one of India's largest IT clusters, and Chennai is unusual in having produced two globally significant product companies of its own in Zoho and Freshworks.
Healthcare & medical tourism
Apollo Hospitals, MIOT, Sankara Nethralaya, Fortis Malar
Chennai attracts a very large share of India's medical tourists, and the resulting concentration of specialist care is a genuine advantage for residents.
Electronics & hardware manufacturing
Foxconn, Pegatron, Samsung, Nokia, Salcomp
The Sriperumbudur belt west of the city has become a major electronics manufacturing cluster, including significant iPhone assembly capacity.
Financial services & back office
World Bank, Standard Chartered, HSBC, Bank of America, Scope International
Substantial global back-office and technology operations, weighted to banking operations and analytics.
Film & media
Kollywood studios, AVM, Sun TV Network
Tamil cinema is one of India's largest and most influential film industries, and it is culturally central here in a way that is hard to overstate.
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