CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu minister for finance and human resources development Palanivel Thiaga Rajan  on Tuesday urged the Centre to formulate a data sharing protocol that allows states to access data like Income Tax, AADHAR and Covid among others to enable states to run a data-driven administration.

Participating in a virtual meeting organized by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman  with finance ministers of various states, PTR assured the state's commitment to work in close coordination with the Union government. "The recent reduction in prices of petrol and diesel by the Union Government has provided a golden opportunity to conduct a case study to analyse the impact of price on elasticity of demand and supply and on growth in general," Thiaga Rajan said.

Welcoming the Union minister's initiative to hold such a meeting to discuss steps to promote investment, infrastructure development and economic growth in the country, Thiaga Rajan said the economy of Tamil Nadu has been resilient despite the pandemic in terms of both revenue and investments. Two investment conclaves enabled signing 50 MoUs with an investment commitment of 21,021 crore and generation of around one lakh jobs, he said. Thiaga Rajan urged the Centre to permit states to borrow unconditionally within the prescribed limits and such limits should be decided based on the capacity of the state to absorb higher investments. Further, the restriction of one project per annum per state from a given external agency should be discontinued to allow market mechanism to function freely. "These measures would benefit Tamil Nadu, considered an attractive investment destination," he said.

Stressing on the fact that the state is taking several steps to improve the condition of power discoms, Thiaga Rajan requested the Union government to ensure adequate and continuous supply of coal and to help in the development of and access to supplies of Chandrabila coal block in Odisha. Highlighting the wind energy potential of Tamil Nadu, the minister urged the Union government to formulate a viable offshore wind energy development policy to further give an impetus to renewable energy development.

Media: Times of India