# Palanivel Thiagarajan

Dr. Palanivel Thiagarajan (PTR) (born 7 March 1966) is an Indian politician and the current Minister of Information Technology and Digital Services of Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election in 2016 and 2021 from Madurai Central.

## Early life

He is the son of the late P. T. R. Palanivel Rajan, who was also a well-known politician in Tamil Nadu. His grandfather, P. T. Rajan, was the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency from 4 April 1936, to 24 August 1936.
Following his schooling at The Lawrence School, Lovedale, and Vikaasa School, Madurai, Thiagarajan, he graduated with a degree in chemical engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (formerly, Regional Engineering College, Tiruchirappalli). He obtained a master's degree in operations research and a Ph.D. in human factors engineering/engineering psychology at University at Buffalo. He then completed his MBA in financial management at MIT Sloan School of Management. He is a patent holder of Methods & systems for providing structured loan commitment transactions.

## Corporate career

He began his career in 1990 as an independent consultant in Operations and Systems Improvement. In 2001 he joined Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. as Trader and Co-Portfolio Manager – Firm Relationship Loan Portfolio. He quit Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. as Head Of Offshore Capital Markets in the year 2008. He then worked for Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore in the Global Capital Markets division. He quit Standard Chartered Bank as Managing Director, Financial Markets Sales in 2014.

## Political career

Thiagarajan was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Madurai Central Assembly constituency in the 2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election. He was re-elected in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election.
He was the Finance and Human Resources Management Minister of Tamil Nadu since May 2021. He has released a White Paper on Tamil Nadu's finances after a long time. In a cabinet reshuffle on 11 May 2023 by the Tamil Nadu government, he was made the Information Technology and Digital Services minister of the state.

## Ministry

| Designation | Portfolio | Party | Ministry | Tenure | Tenure |
| Designation | Portfolio | Party | Ministry | Took office | Left office |
| Minister of Information Technology & Digital Services | Information Technology and Digital Services | DMK | M.K.Stalin | 11 May 2023 | Incumbent |
| Minister of Finance and Human Resources Management | Finance, Planning, Personal and Administrative Reforms, Pensions and Pension allowances. | DMK | M.K.Stalin | 7 May 2021 | 10 May 2023 |

## Electoral performance

Tamil Nadu Legislative elections :
| Elections | Constituency | Party | Party | Result | % Votes |
| 2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election | Madurai Central | | DMK | Won | 42.55% |
| 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election | Madurai Central | | DMK | Won | 49.47% |

### Detailed performance

2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election: Madurai Central :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | DMK | Dr. Palanivel Thiagarajan | 73,205 | 49.47 | +6.92 |
| | AIADMK | N. Jothi Muthuramalingam | 39,029 | 26.37 | −12.38 |
| | MNM | B. Mani | 14,495 | 9.79 | New |
| | NTK | J. Pandiammal | 11,215 | 7.58 | +5.61 |
| | Independent | Kremmer Suresh | 4,907 | 3.32 | New |
| | SDPI | G. S. Sikkandar Batcha | 3,347 | 2.26 | +1.15 |
| | NOTA | None of the above | 1,441 | 0.97 | −0.79 |
| Margin of victory | Margin of victory | Margin of victory | 34,176 | 23.09 | 19.30 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 147,989 | 61.17 | −4.03 |
| | DMK hold | DMK hold | Swing | +6.92 | |
2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election: Madurai (Central) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | DMK | Dr. Palanivel Thiagarajan | 64,662 | 42.55 | +3.35 |
| | AIADMK | M. Jeyabal | 58,900 | 38.75 | New |
| | DMDK | D. Siva Muthukumar | 11,235 | 7.39 | −45.37 |
| | BJP | M. Karthik Prabu | 6,926 | 4.56 | +1.98 |
| | NTK | C. Vetri Kumaran | 2,998 | 1.97 | New |
| | NOTA | None Of The Above | 2,683 | 1.77 | New |
| Margin of victory | Margin of victory | Margin of victory | 5,762 | 3.80 | −9.78 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 151,982 | 65.20 | −9.56 |
| | DMK gain from DMDK | DMK gain from DMDK | Swing | -10.22 | |

## Personal life

He married Margaret, whom he met at University at Buffalo where he was pursuing his Ph.D. while she was pursuing her Master's. They have two sons.