N Muruganandam takes charge as Tamil Nadu’s 50th Chief Secretary

Chennai: Seasoned bureaucrat N Muruganandam, who as Industries Secretary revitalised the investment climate in the state by clinching deals with big names like Ola and Tata Electronics during the Covid-19 pandemic, will be the 50th Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu.

56-year-old Muruganandam, a 1991-batch officer, succeeds Shiv Das Meena, who will now head the Tamil Nadu Real Estate Authority as its Chairman for five years. Meena, who shares an excellent professional rapport with Chief Minister M K Stalin, has got a post-retirement job as he is set to retire in October this year.

Muruganandam moves to the second floor of the iconic building at Fort. St. George, the seat of power of the Tamil Nadu government, from his first-floor office as Secretary-1 to Chief Minister Stalin. Muruganandam is considered one of the finest officers in Tamil Nadu and was hand-picked by the then Finance Minister P T R Palanivel Thiaga Rajan as the Finance Secretary in November 2021.

Before moving to the Finance Department, Muruganandam held fort at the Industries Department, which played a crucial role in ensuring adequate of oxygen for Covid-19 patients during the second wave that swept the state between May and June 2021.

A native of Chennai and an alumnus of the prestigious Anna University, Tamil Nadu’s premier engineering institute, Muruganandam had served in key roles in Tamil Nadu and New Delhi. He was the Private Secretary to then Union Shipping Minister G K Vasan and also served as a joint secretary in the Union Shipping Ministry.

On his return to home cadre, Muruganandam was appointed as Principal Secretary (Industries) in March 2019 under the then Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to garner investments in Tamil Nadu, which had witnessed a slump due to a slew of factors, including the closure of the Nokia factory, and South Korean automobile major Kia choosing Andhra Pradesh.

It was during Muruganandam’s tenure as Industries Secretary that Tamil Nadu took baby steps in clinching a portion of the operations of MNCs to the state as they were moving out of China as part of their diversification plans post-pandemic.

“He played a key role in clinching the deals with key Apple supplier Pegatron and home-grown Tata Electronics who set up massive plants in Chennai and Hosur. He was also instrumental in bringing Ola to Pochampalli in Tamil Nadu,” a senior bureaucrat who had worked with him in the past told DH.

Muruganandam, as Industries Secretary, was also a key member of a Special Task Force constituted in April 2020 to attract new investments from companies that are likely to exit from “certain countries” (read China) and relocate their manufacturing bases in countries like India to “diversify” their supply chain.

Another bureaucrat said Muruganandam was trusted by Chief Ministers and ministers in charge as they always gave him a free hand in making decisions. “That’s the reason he was retained as Industries Secretary by the incumbent Chief Minister when he took over in May 2021,” the second bureaucrat added.

Muruganandam also served as the Collector of Coimbatore, Principal Resident Commissioner, Tamil Nadu House, New Delhi, and Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Corporation of Development for Women Limited.