Madurai: Finance minister PTR Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Saturday said that the government is in discussion with top Indian and foreign companies on bringing investments to Tamil Nadu, especially Madurai and other Tier II cities.

He was addressing an investors and entrepreneurs meeting, Native Koodal, organized by Nativelead Foundation here.

"It is time to turn my attention towards Madurai and my constituency, and we are in discussion with top two or three Indian companies and Australian and US companies. We will soon announce major investments in Tamil Nadu and Madurai," he said. Madurai problems like drinking water and drainage will ball be fixed. "In the next 18 to 24 months, Madurai will see major changes," he added.

Reiterating that growth should be inclusive, PTR said the chief minister has given them a direction to include everyone, rural and urban, so that everyone has access to growth. Though funding plans, laws and schemes are made to support this philosophy, there are challenges since the government system is rigid.

"The state government has limited roles like fixing fiscal deficit, creating macro climate, reservations but the government can't create and it should come from the entrepreneurs. Government can only influence," he said.

As a government, they are trying to do their best for enterprises including schemes to prepare the workforce. Decentralizing will have better results.

"If you get the inclusion right, everything else will fall in the right place. More startup groups are needed to drive growth," he said.

The state managed to fix its fiscal health and the final figures are promising. The state is on a good path. The ship was on the wrong path and it has been put in the right direction now, he added.

"The rising inequality will pose danger to democracy," he said adding that Tamil Nadu has managed to fix inequality. Thiaga Rajan challenged the Gujarat model. "The per capita income of Gujarat may be a few thousand rupees above Tamil Nadu. But the number of girls coming out of high schools is 85% in Tamil Nadu against 50% to 60% in Gujarat. They can't catch up with Tamil Nadu on social inclusiveness or any other metric unless they fix this," he said.

Media: Times of India