CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s ability to convert its large and increasingly skilled workforce into sustained economic growth will determine whether the state can deliver two decades of expansion and emerge as one of India’s most advanced regional economies, the state’s information technology minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said on Saturday.
Addressing a gathering during the second day of the UEF Trade Summit 2025, a three-day event at the Chennai Trade Centre, the minister said that human capital — not physical infrastructure alone — will be the decisive growth driver in an era of artificial intelligence and automation.
Thiaga Rajan said Tamil Nadu could realistically aspire to a $4-trillion economy by 2047 if it sustains annual growth of around 9 per cent. The state’s long-standing emphasis on education, social equity and inclusion, he said, gives it a structural advantage in preparing workers for a rapidly changing global labour market.
“Seventy-five years ago, Tamil Nadu was among the poorer regions of the country. Today, it ranks among the richest and performs strongly on human and social development indicators,” he said, describing the transition as evidence that sustained investment in education and skills yields long-term economic returns.
The minister warned that the global environment is becoming more fragmented, with US-centric institutions losing influence and technology reshaping production and employment. In such a setting, he said, education systems must be reoriented towards skills that differentiate humans from machines, as automation and artificial intelligence increasingly absorb routine tasks.
“Our greatest asset is human capital,” Thiaga Rajan said, adding, “Equipping the next generation with the right skills — and having the courage to reform education for that future — is the only way Tamil Nadu can sustain high growth over the next two decades.”
Other prominent dignitaries present at the event included S Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Mecca Rafeeque Ahmed, Chairman, Farida Group, and Datuk Wira Shahul Dawood Bin Shaikh Dawood, deputy president of ASEAN Chamber of Commerce and managing director of Green Packet Berhard among others.