What structural and sectoral reforms would Tamil Nadu need to sustain double-digit real growth for a decade? Critically evaluate the feasibility.

Tamil Nadu's goal of a $1.5 trillion economy by 2035-36 implies a 4.9-fold GSDP rise, needing about 17.2% nominal and 12.2% real growth every year for ten years [1] — above any year the State has recorded. Sustaining this demands reform on two fronts: fiscal-institutional and sectoral.

Structural reforms required

• Fiscal space for capital spending: committed expenditure — salaries, pensions, interest — absorbs 61% of revenue receipts, while capital outlay is only ₹56,985 crore, about 12% of total spending [3]. Growth of this order needs the ratio reversed.
• Revenue mobilisation: own tax revenue is 5.6% of GSDP and a revenue deficit of 1.4% persists [3] — widening the base and GST compliance are prerequisites.
• Debt and contingent liabilities: outstanding liabilities are projected at 27% of GSDP [3]; discom debt nationally stands at 2.7% of GSDP, and RBI urges loss reduction, metering and timely tariff revision to contain guarantee risk [4].

Sectoral reforms required

• Manufacturing deepening in sunrise sectors — EVs, semiconductors, advanced chemistry cells, aerospace, defence — since services alone cannot deliver 12% growth [2].
• Power sector viability, as fabs and EV plants buy reliable bulk power a loss-making discom cannot finance [4].
• Agriculture and MSME productivity, plus skilling, given the State's 0.3% population growth and early ageing, which cap labour-force expansion [5].

Critical evaluation of feasibility The base is strong: real GSDP grew about 11% in 2025-26 against India's 8%, and per capita income is 60% above the national average [3][5]. Yet the long-run trend was only 6.0% real (2012-22) [5], and the State's own budget assumes 14% nominal growth [3], not 17.2%. A dollar target is also hostage to inflation and rupee depreciation assumptions [2].

The target is therefore best read as a directional aspiration rather than a forecast. Publishing a year-by-year growth path alongside the rupee target, while restoring capital-outlay space and discom health, would make the ambition both credible and developmentally meaningful.