Development of urban centres will be a key focal point: TN Finance Secretary
The Tamil Nadu government will lay stronger focus on boosting infrastructure in major cities and towns in the State as they will have to feed millions of people in view of rapid urbanisation, pointed out T Udhayachandran, Finance Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu.
Tamil Nadu is the most urbanised State in the country. And people from rural areas in search of employment with everincreasing aspirations are coming towards urban cities, the minister said. “So the urban areas are going to be the focus points. But, urban challenges are very difficult. While we have learnt to solve the rural housing puzzle, urban housing is a major challenge, not just in Tamil Nadu, but across India. So, every city/town/urban centre has to reinvent itself and keep pace with the changes to feed the millions, he said while addressing the Conference on
(From left) V Kamakoti, Director, Indian Institute of Technology Madras; Shankar Vanavarayar, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu; T Udhayachandran, SecretaryFinance, Government of Tamil Nadu; R Nandini, Deputy Chairperson, CII Southern Region and Srivats Ram, ViceChairman, CII Tamil Nadu
“Tamil Nadu – The State of the Future”, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Tamil Nadu.
He asserted that Tamil Nadu had strengths in various sectors and the State had a good combination of manufacturing and IT sector with a strong linkage with a large number of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, besides startups.
Discussing the city profiles,
he said Erode was doing well with its export link, while Tiruppur was the textile hub though it was facing a slowdown due to the crisis in Europe.
KEY STRENGTHS
In addition to the long coastline, human capital and mineral resources were the key strengths of the State. He noted that Tuticorin would transform in the next 10 years with a slew of investments in green hydrogen projects and others.
“It is very important that we start nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship if Tamil Nadu has to achieve the target of being a $1 trillion economy by 2030,” V Kamakoti, Director, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, said in his keynote address.
Tamil Nadu’s path towards Vision 2047 is to achieve the ambitious target of reaching a $4.21 trillion economy by 2047, which would make it the number one State in terms of Gross State Domestic Product, said Tamil Nadu@100 Vision Document, released by Udhayachandran.
Sectoral initiatives to become global leaders in manufacturing, EVs, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, startup and R&D ecosystem, AI and datadriven governance at government and industries, among other measures are the key drivers to increase the momentum of growth at 11.5 per cent per annum, it said.