Tamil Nadu can achieve $1 trillion economy, says state finance minister

For this the state will have to grow 13% a year for the next ten years

Tamil Nadu is on track to achieve the target of becoming a $1-trillion economy and logging in $100 billion exports by 2030, and for this the state will have to grow at a rate of 13 per cent per annum for the next ten years, state finance minister Palanivel Thiagarajan on Thursday.

“Not only can we achieve the $1 trillion target very reasonably, we also have unlimited potential if we get some basic things right. We require nominal growth of 13 per cent for the next ten years to achieve this. If you take out the inflation of 5-6 per cent, 7-8 per cent real growth is easily achievable,” he said addressing a CII summit. State chief minister M K Stalin had also set a target of bringing in investments to the tune of Rs 23 trillion by 2030 to boost the economic growth.

He added that the fact that Tamil Nadu is one of the few states with no negative growth during the pandemic indicates that these targets are within reach. Data released by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation shows Tamil Nadu posted a positive growth of 1.42 per cent in FY21. He said the state had a history of achieving a growth of over 10.3 per cent CAGR between 2006-11 after taking out the effect of inflations. The current exports by the state is around $26 billion.

“To attract investments, we have removed some 350 technical requirements and want to create a land bank,” Thiagarajan added. He said in a recent meeting with the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, he had pushed for the implementation of 12 major road projects, six airports and the transformation of V O Chidambaranar (VOC) Port in Tuticorin to a major transhipment port.

Regarding the impact of the ongoing rains and resulting floods in Chennai and Tamil Nadu he said it is a long-term problem that was created over a period of around 50 years due to the encroachment of water bodies. “We have a clear policy regarding this. A committee has been set up to look into this,” he added. Stalin had appointed retired IAS officer V Thiruppugazh, who served in Gujarat under the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi and also in the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) under the Prime Minister, to advise on coming out with a strategy on mitigation and management of flood risk in Chennai.