Chennai: Just a week before Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin was scheduled to travel to the US on August 27 to seek investments, he made a significant decision to appoint N. Muruganandam as the 50th chief secretary of Tamil Nadu.
An IAS officer from the 1991 batch, Muruganandam wasn’t part of the CM’s inner administrative circle when the DMK came to power, but he wasn’t out of favour either.
He was one of the few bureaucrats retained in his position after the DMK assumed power in May 2021. Initially appointed as principal secretary of industries by the AIADMK government in 2019, he continued in this role when the DMK took over.
Muruganandam isn’t only a trusted civil servant under DMK rule. He was also the go-to man for the AIADMK during the previous administration when the state was reeling under job losses and a lack of investment.
His professional capabilities soon earned him the confidence of the chief minister and ministers in the DMK government.
“He is among the very few officials who prioritise work over ego. Known for his straightforward approach, he has a reputation in both bureaucratic and political arenas as a no-nonsense officer,” said another principal secretary, who did not want to be identified.
Transitioning from the industries department, Muruganandam was appointed secretary for the finance department in November 2021, where he was responsible for budget preparation alongside former finance minister Palanivel Thiagarajan, also known as PTR.
A finance department official said the former finance minister specifically chose Muruganandam for the role. “It wasn’t just about selecting any IAS officer for compatibility with the department minister. PTR interviewed several officials individually before recommending Muruganandam to the chief minister for the finance secretary role.”
Muruganandam has served as the industries secretary under both the AIADMK and DMK governments, playing an important role in attracting investments to the state even during the pandemic period.
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Detailed planning helped build rapport with Stalin
A year ago in May 2023, CM Stalin handpicked Muruganandam as the chief minister’s secretary. And then Stalin personally picked him as chief secretary because he was known for maintaining good relationships with everyone, irrespective of their views.
Though the 57-year-old has been recognised for much of his work in his roles as industries and finance secretary, several IAS officers told ThePrint his detailed planning and budget formulation for the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai scheme, which provides monthly financial aid of Rs 1,000 to women heads of families, helped build a rapport with Stalin.
“At the outset of the regime, the finance minister was unsure about its implementation due to the substantial funding required. Muruganandam established the eligibility criteria through consultations with ministers and secured data from the income tax department,” a finance department official told ThePrint.
The DMK government’s flagship scheme was announced in the 2023-2024 budget with an allocation of around Rs 7,000 crore. It was rolled out successfully on 15 September 2023, the birth anniversary of former chief minister C.N. Annadurai.
Though former additional chief secretary R. Christodas Gandhi emphasised that the government’s functions aren’t dependent on just a couple of individuals in the bureaucracy.
He suggested that Muruganandam’s performance might be why the CM developed a closer working relationship with him. “Governance, after all, is conducted by humans, not machines. Muruganandam, being an effective listener rather than someone imposing his views on all departments, has become the chief minister’s favourite.”
The many facets of Muruganandam
Muruganandam has emerged as a key figure in Tamil Nadu’s financial planning over the years. A Chennai native, he was a computer science engineering graduate from Tamil Nadu’s prestigious Anna University with an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.
He began his career as a sub-collector of Tirunelveli district before he served as collector of Coimbatore, Karur and Chennai.
Over the years, Muruganandam has served in key positions in the state and Union governments. He went on to hold many key positions from joint secretary of the District Rural Development Agency and principal resident commissioner of Tamil Nadu House in New Delhi and secretary of the industries and finance departments.
During the central deputation, he served as personal secretary to former Union minister G.K. Vasan and later as joint secretary in the Union shipping ministry before he was repatriated to state service in 2019.
When the DMK came to power in 2021 after a gap of 10 years, all eyes were on the full first budget presented by then finance minister, PTR.
After presenting the budget, PTR and then finance secretary Muruganandam emphasised the likelihood of the state’s substantial increase in its tax revenues, but many failed to notice the importance that Muruganandam gave to girls’ education in the budget.
Soon after presenting the budget, Muruganandam told reporters the government would deposit Rs 1,000 every month in the bank accounts of students pursuing higher education in government colleges after completing their studies in government schools. According to him, only 46 percent of female students were going in for graduation after finishing school.
“This scheme was announced to encourage more women to pursue higher education and about six lakh girl students would benefit from the scheme,” he said at the time.
The scheme was initially launched for girls and has now been extended to boys as well.
An IAS officer now serving as a district collector said Muruganandam always supported the empowerment and education of women. “It was the idea of Muruganandam to introduce financial assistance for girl students taking up graduation after finishing their school, instead of giving them a mangalsutra for their marriage,” the IAS officer told ThePrint.
“We were told not to discontinue any of the schemes introduced by the previous AIADMK government if they are beneficial to the people,” the officer added.
The officer also said the scheme was in line with the ruling DMK government’s political ideology.
During the AIADMK regime, former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa introduced the Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar marriage assistance scheme, popularly known as the Thalikku Thangam scheme (gold for marriage), providing gold coins for young brides. But, due to a shortage of funds, the previous AIADMK government did not buy gold after 2019.
After the DMK came to power in 2021 and presented its budget in 2022, funds were allocated to the restructured Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar Memorial Higher Education Assurance scheme. Also called Pudhumai Penn, the scheme provided financial assistance of Rs 1,000 every month for girls pursuing higher education until they completed their higher studies. The scheme was also launched on 15September 2022.
Muruganandam also demonstrated his skills during his stint as the secretary in the industries department. In 2019, he was made the industries secretary during the AIADMK regime and within months, the COVID-19 lockdown was enforced across the country, making it tough for anybody to attract any investment to the state.
However, his colleagues from the industries department said Muruganandam single-handedly managed to bring in investments worth more than Rs 20,000 crore in 2020.
“A year after the pandemic, our department signed as many as 80 MoUs worth Rs 66,000 crore, of which deals worth about Rs 20,000 crore were signed in December 2020,” said an official, who earlier worked in the industries department.
According to sources, the more prominent of the 80 deals were with Ola, Crown Group—a major defense maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) company—and Tata group’s Voltas.
“He shared a cordial relationship with the industries minister, M.C. Sampath, despite his lack of knowledge of the industries department. He did not overlook the minister at any given point in time. Even the slightest of things, he did not mind explaining to the minister and he was given a free hand to bring in investments,” the official added.
According to department officials, he brought Apple supplier Pegatron, Ola, Tata Electronics and many more industries into Tamil Nadu.
“Just a year after he took charge as the secretary, the state’s economy went for a toss because of the pandemic. It was due to his relationship with industrial experts and other stakeholders, that he managed to bring those companies back to Tamil Nadu after the pandemic situation slowly subsided,” said an IAS officer serving as a joint secretary.
The officer recalled how Muruganandam’s efforts helped the state government maintain enough oxygen during the COVID-19 pandemic. “He held talks with the suppliers and ensured that there was enough supply of oxygen during the pandemic.”
Why Stalin chose Muruganandam
Soon after taking charge as chief minister, Stalin appointed V. Irai Anbu as chief secretary along with four secretaries for the chief minister who would manage various departments.
The then archeology department commissioner, T. Udhayachandran, was appointed one of the chief minister’s principal secretaries. The other three were P. Umanath, then managing director of Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation; M.S. Shanmugam, then commissioner of museums; and Anu George, then industries commissioner.
Ever since Stalin took charge as chief minister, there was widespread criticism that the state’s bureaucracy had formed a shadow fence around the chief minister.
“DMK ministers even started to allege that a few IAS officers were not giving a free hand to the department ministers and not keeping them informed about the department work,” an official source at the secretariat told ThePrint. “That is when the CM decided to move as many as 16 IAS officers and made Muruganandam the CM secretary, posting the then CM Secretary Udhayachandran as finance secretary,” the source added.
The source also added that the choice to make Muruganandam the first CM secretary was a conscious decision to fill the gap between other civil servants in the state and the ministers.
“Until then, even if a minister from a particular department demands a particular IAS officer be posted in his native district, it would not happen. But, after Muruganandam took charge, most of the ministers got the IAS officers of their choice as district collectors and corporation commissioners,” the source said.
Another senior civil servant in the secretariat also linked the closeness between the chief minister and chief secretary to former bureaucrat K. Ashok Vardhan Shetty.
“It was Ashok who guided Chief Minister M.K. Stalin during the previous DMK regime when Stalin was the deputy chief minister. Muruganandam is a mentee of Ashok. Even when the DMK was out of power, the chief minister was in talks with Ashok and there were plans to make him the CM advisor. However, it was dropped later,” the senior civil servant said.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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Pls stop giving build up for useless creatures
There is a factual error in the article. Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar marriage assistance was introduced and implemented by DMK REGIME under MK when DMK came back to power in 1989. It was discontinued by Admk regime when Jaya came to power in 1991 following assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Until her end of regime 1996 , she dropped it . When DMK again continued with higher amount and continued . Later Jaya converted it into a package with gold sovereign and eventually petered out and beneficiaries did not get it at an opportune time . Later when DMK stormed to power under MKS , it effectively utilizes for Pudumai Penn beside marriage assistance scheme.