New Delhi: Every family in the state has a debt of Rs 2,63,976, said Tamil Nadu Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiyagarajan on Monday while releasing the white paper for the state’s finances of the past 15 years, including both AIADMK and DMK regime. The Finance Minister said that the AIADMK regime has made Tamil Nadu a dubious distinction of currently being the largest borrower in the open market amongst all States in India.


The white paper is expected to serve as a guide to the information regarding the fiscal management, state's liabilities, and especially losses incurred in state-owned corporations including Tamil Nadu Electricity Board in the past decade.


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Talking to reporters about the 120-page white paper, Palanivel Thiyagarajan said, “We reviewed the white paper released by Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and other states. We also reviewed the White Paper released by the then Finance Minister and AIADMK leader C Ponnaiyan in 2001 and have prepared the white paper.” 


“We received inputs from several people and the credit of the white paper will go to them. However, if there is any mistake in the white paper then I will take responsibility. We are releasing the white paper to convey our goal,” he said.  


In the white paper, the Minister said, “The white paper will give details on the development, unemployment and the lessons we can learn from our past mistakes. We can understand how we can rectify the mistakes and reverse the fiscal deficit.” 


He said, “We have segregated the white paper into three parts. The Former TN CM M Karunanidhi’s regime in  2006-2011 we were getting surplus revenue for the first three years and the income started gradually reducing only in the last two years from 2008 due to the global economic crisis.”


“Even till 2012-2013, the state recorded a revenue surplus of Rs.1,760 crore but the fiscal balance worsened and a revenue deficit of Rs.1,789 crore was recorded in 2013-14. The deficit grew almost 4 times to Rs 6,408 crore in 2014-15 and there was further deterioration with the revenue deficit widening to Rs 35,909 crore in 2019-20 even before the Covid-19 pandemic struck,” he said.


“Tax revenue growth declined from 11.46% between 2006-11 to 4.32% between 2016-2021. The state indirectly borrowed Rs 39,079 crore in the last five years including for everyday government expenses,” he said adding, “Every family in the state has a debt of Rs 2,63,976.” 


These are the significant points raised in the white paper



  • The state government’s revenue has come down by one-fourth. The decline in revenue is pointed out by the reserve bank and finance commission. 

  • State’s revenue from the tax, which remained at 11.4% during the DMK regime, has come down to 4.4% in the last ten years. 

  • The debt state of TANGEDCO and the transport department is in a worrisome state. The debt is over Rs 2 lakh crore and of which, the government has borrowed Rs 1.34 lakh crore for TANGEDCO alone. The state has been incurring a loss of Rs 59.57 if a TNSTC bus is operated for a kilometer. 

  • The revenue which stood at 13.89% during the DMK period, has come down to 4.65% in the AIADMK regime. 

  • The fiscal deficit of the state is Rs 92,305 crore. The pending GST share of the state is Rs 20,033 crore. Of Rs 21.46, tax levied on a litre of petrol, Rs 9.46 was given to the state earlier but now, it has come down to just Re 1 of Rs 33.

  • Local bodies have to pay Rs 1,743 crores towards electricity and water bills to the state government.

  • The government has been spending Rs 20.81 for producing and distributing 1000 litres of water but the Chennai metro water board is selling it for Rs 10.42


Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu's Budget session for 2021-2022 will convene from August 13. Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan promised to release the white paper of Tamil Nadu's finances immediately after swearing-in as a Minister to highlight the fiscal mismanagement in the past decade by the AIADMK government. In June, the Finance Minister alleged that AIADMK did not table five Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) reports and said in a report that not releasing the CAG report was the reason why people were unaware of the problems. 


(With inputs from ABP Nadu — It is a Tamil platform of ABP News. For more news, commentary and latest happenings from Tamil Nadu, follow https://tamil.abplive.com/)