Tamil Nadu is expected to maintain a growth rate of above 8% in 2024-25 and to achieve the DMK government’s aim of becoming a $1 trillion economy by 2030, the state will need to sustain an annual growth rate of over 12%, according to an economic survey for 2024-25, a first of its kind, released by the State Planning Commission on Thursday.
“Building on a strong foundation of inclusive policies, Tamil Nadu has demonstrated remarkable economic resilience, consistently achieving growth rates of 8% or more since 2021-22,” the report said. “The state is expected to maintain a growth rate above 8% in 2024-25…As a major exporter of automobiles and auto components, textiles, and leather, the state’s economy is responsive to global market trends, exhibiting a higher correlation with global economic fluctuations than India’s growth pattern.”
The survey was released a day before the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government tables its last full-fledged budget on March 14 ahead of the 2026 assembly elections. “Usually the budget will spell out all new schemes for the development of the state. This is the forerunner of telling the people the status of their economy, how various sectors are performing and the challenges that we face, and indicating potential areas which the state has to focus on,”said state planning commission executive vice-chairman J Jeyaranjan. “This would be a guideline for an informed debate about the economy by the people,” he said, adding that a key challenge is that global events are unpredictable.
The global economy posted a real growth rate of 3.33% in 2023 and India’s economy recorded 7.61% growth in 2022-23, 9.19% in 2023-24, and 6.48% in 2024-25, the report said. In 2022-23, Tamil Nadu’s per capita income was ₹2.78 lakh, 1.6 times the national average of ₹1.69 lakh. “It has consistently outpaced the national average over the years,” the report stated. “This makes Tamil Nadu the fourth-largest state in per capita income.” The survey pointed out that unlike states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, where economic activity is concentrated around a single metropolitan hub, Tamil Nadu’s economic development is more evenly distributed across multiple urban centres. Investments move beyond Chennai and its surroundings to the districts of Coimbatore, Madurai, Tirupur, Tiruchirappalli, and Salem helping bridge the urban-rural divide.
However, to reach its one-trillion goal, the survey said that Tamil Nadu also needs to concentrate on developing rural entrepreneurship to spread growth across all the districts of the state. “The state should leverage its demographic advantage by increasing the skill endowment of the youth, encouraging women to participate in the workforce, and promoting high-value manufacturing and services, including frontier technologies,” the report recommended.
“It is heartening to note that Tamil Nadu has already started on this growth path with policies for the semiconductor and advanced electronics industry, creating a business environment to expand sectors like electronics, IT and ITeS, logistics, and renewable energy,” it stated.
In 2023-24, Tamil Nadu recorded the 8th lowest retail inflation among 20 major Indian states, the report noted. Urban inflation in Tamil Nadu decreased from 6% in 2019-20 to 4.5% in 2024-25 (till Jan 2025), while rural inflation remained at 5.4%. “Accelerated growth in agriculture and allied sectors is achievable if TamilNadu addresses challenges such as groundwater depletion and climate change,” the commission has recommended.
The Global Investors Meet 2024 secured investments worth ₹6.64 lakh crore, expected to create 14.55 lakh jobs. “To sustain industrial growth, Tamil Nadu must prepare its workforce by suitably reskilling to match the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies,” the survey said.
The survey added that Tamil Nadu leads the country in banking networks, with 24,390 ATMs. The service sector in Tamil Nadu has demonstrated strong recovery post-pandemic, the report said. In 2023-24, 54.63% of Tamil Nadu’s urban workforce was employed in the service sector, close to the national average of 58.07%. Among them, 16.28% were engaged in trade and motor vehicle repair, 7.53% in transport and storage, 6.28% in information and communication, 5% in education, 4.86% in accommodation and food services, 2.84% in financial and insurance services, and 11.84% in other services.
As a welfare state, the Tamil Nadu government has steadily increased its social sector expenditure, from ₹79,859 crore in 2019-20 to ₹1.16 lakh crore in 2023-24. Key initiatives include the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme to improve school attendance and nutrition as well as various programs aimed at women, such as the ₹1,000 cash out to women-headed households and free bus commute for women in state buses.
In 2023-24, Tamil Nadu ranked fourth among major states in terms of average monthly per capita consumption expenditure for both rural and urban areas, consistent with its position as the fourth highest in annual per capita income, the commission found.
With Tamil Nadu consistently affected by natural disasters that are primarily flooding, the commission recommended that it address challenges of climate change.