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A southern alliance and an elephant in the room

Naidu’s proposed alliance would do well to address broken state finances that can derail the region’s long-term growth prospects

The South’s problems partly resemble those of Europe from rapid population ageing and ballooning public debts.

3 min read Oct 26, 2026 06:00 AM IST First published on: Oct 26, 2026 at 06:00 AM IST

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu apparently seeks to forge an informal “southern alliance” — to arguably work with his counterparts in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala towards building a $10 trillion-plus bloc by 2047. The five states together account for less than a fifth of India’s population but over 31 per cent of its GDP, 35 per cent of factories and foreign direct investment equity inflows, and 26 per cent of total GST revenue collections.…