Saravana Kumar🇮🇳

Tamil Nadu’s GST collection performance over the last 6 months raises serious questions about our state's economy, the government’s fiscal priorities, and the incumbent TVK Govt’s ability to generate sustainable revenue. The only relief is that GST revenues finally showed signs of growth in October, though it was still in single digits. What makes the single-digit growth, following several months of degrowth, even more concerning is that the recovery appears far from adequate. This comes despite the festive season in Tamil Nadu, extended school holidays, and a significant increase in tourist inflows and associated economic activity. Please do not cite post-settlement revenue growth as an argument, because we are comparing GST revenues from last year and the current year, and IGST settlement was not introduced recently. States like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana, with economic activity equal to Tamil Nadu, continue to show strong GST growth. The TVK Government needs to be aware of this and take measures to augment the State’s GST revenues, starting with monitoring the Government’s capital expenditure across all departments. There is a general feeling that capital expenditure across many State departments has slowed over the past 6 months. This breaks the circular economy that the government’s capital expenditure generally creates. Tamil Nadu ranks first in the country, accounting for 15.43% of India's total factories. However, when assessed in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA), its contribution stands at 10.26%, placing it third nationally. A decade and a half ago, Tamil Nadu’s share of the national manufacturing GVA stood at 10.3%. Remarkably, it appears to have remained largely stagnant since then, while states that once trailed Tamil Nadu are steadily narrowing the gap. We’ve spoken about this earlier, and we are saying this again. Tamil Nadu’s Regional imbalance reports generated by the State Planning Commission will not automatically solve the State's problems. They only indicate where our State stands. Many districts in Tamil Nadu need the government’s attention, intervention, and special programmes to boost economic activity. The top-ranking student needs attention, but the students at the bottom of the list need it most. The sooner the Tamil Nadu Government realises this, the better.