KERALA RISING · FROM EXPORTING PEOPLE TO EXPORTING IDEAS operating support for longer before crossing into self-sufficiency, which is the downside scenario. Move them to their optimistic ends and the platform compounds, later programs are nearly free to add, and surplus accelerates the rollout, which is the upside. In neither case does the AI cost change the answer, because in neither case is it large enough to matter. That is the single most important property of the whole financial structure. Illustrative numbers, clearly labelled as such Finance reviewers reasonably want to see numbers, not only shapes. The three tables below put illustrative rupee figures to the base-case trajectory over five years. Every figure is a planning placeholder, not a forecast or a commitment; the ranges are wide on purpose, and a reviewer should overwrite them with the state’s own inputs. They are included so the argument can be interrogated quantitatively rather than only narratively. The point they make together is the same one made qualitatively above: cost is front-loaded and modest, inference is trivial throughout, and revenue is what crosses the line. YEAR 1 ONE-TI M E BU I LD (₹ CR) OP E RA TI NG C OS T (₹ C R/ Y R) OF WH I C H I N FE REN C E 15–25 (milestonegated) 3–5 < ₹ a few lakh 256