Planning Board Vice Chairperson puts Kerala's five-year growth at 4.1 per cent and unemployment at 29.8 per cent as the Fifteenth Plan is drafted

19 October 2026

State Planning Board Vice Chairperson K.M. Chandrasekhar said local self-government institutions must become development units that create jobs for young people instead of being mere fund-spending bodies.
He was delivering the keynote address at the district-level idea-formulation meeting held as part of the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan, which begins in the 2027-28 financial year.
He said the State's growth rate over the past five years is 4.1 per cent and the unemployment rate is 29.8 per cent.
Own tax revenue has shrunk to 6.41 per cent of GSDP and capital expenditure to 1.34 per cent, about 22,000 to 23,000 crore rupees.
The Board will convert every department's schemes into specific, measurable, time-bound and result-oriented SMART projects, with the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode assisting in plan formulation.