T. M. Thomas Isaac

Travancore Mathew Thomas Isaac (born 26 September 1952) is an Indian politician and economist, who served as the Minister for Finance and Coir of the Indian state of Kerala and a central committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He represented the Alappuzha constituency in the Kerala Legislative Assembly. During his tenure as a member of the Kerala State Planning Board, he was in charge of the Peoples Planning in Kerala. He also served as the Finance Minister of Kerala from 2006 to 2011 and 2016 to 2021. The son of T. P. Mathew and Saramma Mathew, Isaac obtained a PhD from the Centre for Development Studies. His PhD thesis is titled Class Struggle and Industrial Structure: A Study of Coir Weaving Industry in Kerala 1859 - 1980. While a student, he became involved in student politics, being involved with the Students Federation of India (SFI), an organisation which is politically linked with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He has held posts in the SFI at college, district and state level.