October 18, 2025

Hold on tight! Tamil Nadu’s subsidies are rising like never before. According to the latest Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report on State Finances for 2023-24, the total subsidies given by the Tamil Nadu government rocketed from ₹20,114 crore in 2019-20 (the COVID-19 year) to an eye-popping ₹37,749 crore in 2023-24. That’s a spicy 27% jump just over a single year! Why? The big hero here is the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai (KMUT) scheme, which added extra fuel to the subsidy fire. The report, tabled in the State Assembly, covers a five-year financial story from 2019-20 to 2023-24. It reveals subsidies shot up from 11.54% to 14.27% of revenue receipts and from 9.57% to 12.19% of revenue expenditure. Even looking at non-committed expenses like salaries and pensions, subsidies share rose from 35.12% to 38.91%. Talk about a big chunk of the pie! Wondering what falls under these subsidies? The report splits them into two main types: explicit and implicit. Explicit subsidies are clearly marked under ‘subsidies’ in accounts. This includes the KMUT scheme, Public Distribution System (PDS), cheap power for domestic users, free bus rides for women, and student bus fare discounts. Then, there are implicit subsidies — these are sneaky! They happen when the government offers goods or services below their real cost, like giving free bicycles or quality seeds to farmers. These implicit subsidies cost the state ₹801.77 crore in 2023-24 alone. The CAG has a sharp message for Tamil Nadu’s government: “to initiate measures to earn adequate returns on its investments and recover its cost of borrowed funds rather than bearing the same on its budget in the form of implicit subsidies.” Simply put, it’s time to balance the books and avoid hidden losses! In sum, Tamil Nadu is splurging big on subsidies, driven mainly by social schemes like KMUT. But can the state keep this subsidy party going without hurting its financial health? Only time will tell!

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Tags: Tamil nadu government, Subsidies, Cag report, Kmut scheme, State finances, 2023-24,