Tamil Nadu Budget 2024-25: Here Are The Top 10 Highlights

Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu today (19 February) presented the Tamil Nadu budget for 2024-25. Here are the highlights-

1. Fiscal Deficit Estimated To Be 3.44 per cent of GSDP in 2024-25

The government has estimated the fiscal deficit to be Rs 1,08,690 crore for 2024-25, which amounts to 3.44 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). The figure for 2023-24 was 3.45 per cent.

2. Encouragement To Set Up Global Capability Centres (GCCs)

The government plans to encourage the establishment of Global Capability Centers (GCCs) by offering a payroll subsidy of 30 per cent in the initial year, 20 per cent in the second year, and 10 per cent in the third year for roles with salaries exceeding Rs 1,00,000 per month.

3. Payroll Subsidy To Companies For Women, Differently Abled And Transgender Employees

In new industrial units having over 500 women, differently abled or transgender employees, the state government will provide a 10 per cent payroll subsidy for two years.

4. Restoration of the Adyar River

The Adyar river, which passes through Chennai will be restored at a cost of Rs 1500 crore. The plan includes setting up of parks on the river banks.

5. Allocation For Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam Crosses Rs 13000 Crore

Rs 13720 crore would be allocated for the Tamil Nadu government's flagship scheme Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam under which around 1.5 crore women are provided an assistance of Rs 1000 per month.

6. Silapathikaram and Manimekalai to be translated into 25 Indian languages

An amount of Rs 2 crore has been allocated for the translation of Silapathikaram and Manimekalai, two of the most well known Tamil epics into other Indian languages.

7. New Film City And Convention Centre

A film city would be set up in Poonamallee, near Chennai at Rs 500 crore. The convention centre named called 'Kalaignar International Convention Centre' would come up at Muttukadu near the East Coast Road.

8. Tech Focus- Artificial Intelligence Mission, Assistance To AI firms working on Tamil LLMs, IT Park In Coimbatore

The state government would come up with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Mission to develop guidelines regarding its usage in education, medicine, research etc by consulting experts. Rs 5 crore would be allotted for providing assistance to companies working to develop Large Language Models (LLMs) for Tamil language applications using AI and machine learning.

Rs 1100 crore is to be allotted for an IT park in Coimbatore that would have an area of 2 lakh square feet.

9. World Startup Summit

A global startup summit would be conducted in Chennai in January 2025.

10. Metro Projects: Rs 12000 Crore For Chennai Metro Phase 2

An amount of Rs 12000 crore has been allocated for the second phase of the Chennai Metro. Detailed project reports for the extension of the metro to the newly opened Kilambakkam bus terminus and the Coimbatore and Madurai metros will be submitted to the Union government.