PMK’s Ramadoss Criticises DMK Over Massive Tamil Nadu Debt Gap
PMK leader exposes DMK's massive borrowings versus low infrastructure spending.
Pattali Makkal Katchi president and former Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss escalated his political offensive against the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government in Tamil Nadu delivering a detailed indictment of what he termed unprecedented fiscal mismanagement, highlighting borrowing patterns that have ballooned the state's debt while yielding disproportionately low returns in tangible infrastructure development.
Ramadoss presented specific figures asserting that between May 2021, when the DMK assumed power, and March 2025, the state government raised Rs 3.86 lakh crore through loans, ostensibly for capital projects, yet official records reflect capital expenditure of merely Rs 1.66 lakh crore over the same timeframe, leaving an unexplained gap of Rs 2.20 lakh crore that directly contradicts repeated governmental claims of full conversion of borrowings into productive assets.
Drawing from Reserve Bank of India statistics to bolster his case, the PMK leader broke down annual capital outlays as Rs 37,011 crore in 2021-22, a sharply reduced Rs 9,530 crore in 2022-23, Rs 42,532 crore in 2023-24, and Rs 47,681 crore in 2024-25, concluding that only 43.11 percent of the borrowed funds materialized into infrastructure investments, while alternative government data citing total borrowings of Rs 4.73 lakh crore against Rs 2.24 lakh crore in capital spending widened the accountability question to Rs 2.49 lakh crore.
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He identified persistent revenue deficits as the fundamental flaw, noting a cumulative shortfall of Rs 1.77 lakh crore across four years—including Rs 49,279 crore in the preceding fiscal alone—forcing the administration to divert fresh loans toward routine operational costs such as employee salaries, pensions, and populist welfare schemes, thereby undermining promises made during the 2021 election campaign to eradicate revenue deficits and achieve surpluses.
In a pointed comparative analysis, Ramadoss contrasted Tamil Nadu's fiscal discipline with Uttar Pradesh, observing that the latter borrowed Rs 2.57 lakh crore over four years yet delivered infrastructure worth Rs 4.65 lakh crore by generating a revenue surplus of Rs 2.15 lakh crore, while cautioning that Tamil Nadu's escalating interest obligations—forecast at Rs 70,754 crore for the current year alone—effectively saddle every household with a Rs 6 lakh debt burden and mortgage the state's long-term prosperity, setting the stage for electoral reckoning in the forthcoming assembly polls.
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