GDP vs NSDP: BJP's Annamalai fires back at ex-Tamil Nadu FM, says national per capita growth higher than TN

BJP's Tamil Nadu President K Annamalai on Thursday hit back at former state finance minister P Thiaga Rajan for saying that Tamil Nadu's real per capita growth was higher than the country's real per capita GDP growth. 

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was his resolution that Tamil Nadu must develop at a pace similar to India's development.

Reacting to this, Rajan said Tamil Nadu had 5.54 per cent real NSDP (net state domestic product) growth per capita CAGR, compared to 4.43 per cent real GDP growth per capita CAGR for India. As a consequence, he said, Tamil Nadu went up from at least 1.3 times to at least 1.44 times the Indian average per capita GDP. 

"Why would anyone WANT to slow TN's growth by more than 1% every year, to come down to the Indian average? In reality, the gap will likely widen further under the leadership of Hon CM MK Stalin, rather than come down to the Indian average," he said in a detailed tweet.

Annamalai countered these numbers saying at current prices, the NSDP per capita of Tamil Nadu was Rs 1,16,960 in 2013-14 and Rs 2,75,583 in 2022-23. The CAGR for 10 years was 8.94 per cent, he said. "At current prices, the GDP per capita at a national level was Rs 74,920 in 2013-14 and Rs 1,96,983 in 2022-23. The CAGR for 10-years was 10.15 per cent." 
 
From this, the BJP's firebrand leader said, it is evident that the CAGR per capita at a national level is 1.21% higher than Tamil Nadu. "And hence, our Hon PM Thiru @narendramodi has just given DMK a reality check of what is what."

"A disgruntled Minister moved out of the finance portfolio makes tall claims contrary to the facts," Annamalai said, adding that investments and money don't see the past, it sees the future. "This is evident with the investments secured through the global investors meet in Gujarat, Karnataka & UP, which was way higher than TN secured."

The BJP leader also requested Rajan, Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services, to instruct the authorities to expedite the auction placed for the removal of trees for the construction of AIIMS. He said the AIIMS in Madurai waited 5 years for land acquisition to complete. "And we aren't sure how many more years the TN State govt would take for the tree removal now."

Rajan has served as Tamil Nadu's finance minister from May 2021 to May 2023.