Guwahati, Sep 18: The ‘Scotland of the East’ has exhibited relatively stable economic progress but it needs to pick as compared to its neighbours in the North East especially Sikkim.
A report “Relative Economic Performance of Indian States: 1960-61 to 2023-24″ brought out by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) reveals that Meghalaya’s share in India’s GDP has remained relatively stable. In 2023-24, it contributed about 0.2% to the national economy, unchanged from earlier decades. While this suggests a stable economic performance, the state will have to do much more to catch up with the southern and western regions of the country which have the strongest economic indicators.
The working paper authored by Sanjeev Sanyal and Aakanksha Arora has focused exclusively on the relative performance of states, measured using two indicators- Share in India’s GDP and relative per capita income. The paper examines the relative economic performance of states over the past six and a half decades.
The state’s share in India’s GDP is calculated by dividing the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of the state by the sum of GSDP of all states. Relative per capita income is calculated as the ratio of the per capita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) of the state as a percentage of the all-India per capita Net National Product (or Net National Income in some years.
The relative per capita income of Meghalaya in 1980-81 was 74.4 per cent of the national average, 77.1 in 1990-91, 88.4 in 2001-01, 81.0 in 2010-11, 71.3 in 2020-21 and rising to 74.3 in 2023-24. But Meghalaya can feel happy as its relative per capita income is better than that of Bihar whose relative per capita hovers around 33.
As regards North-eastern states, the report says in 1980-81, Sikkim’s per capita income was below the national average. However, it has achieved remarkable growth, especially over the last two decades. Its per capita income surged from around 100 per cent of the national average in 2000-01 to 320 per cent in 2023-24 which is the highest now in the country. Assam, which initially had a per capita income slightly above the national average (103 per cent in 1960-61), meanwhile experienced a decline in its relative per capita income and reached 61.2 per cent in 2010-11. Since then, Assam’s relative per capita income has been on the rise, reaching 73.7 per cent in 2023-24.
As regards the state’s share of GDP, it has always been 0.2 per cent since 1980-81. Assam’s state share of GDP in 23-24 is 1.9 and has fallen from 2.6 in 1960-61.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has already shown his intentions of going forward saying that the state has emerged as one of India’s most dynamic, ranking among the top ten fastest-growing states since the post-Covid era and has gone ahead talking about a $10 billion economy.
” We can aspire for and achieve greater goals, individually and collectively. The recent past gives us all the reasons to be optimistic and move forward with confidence and pride. Our target to be amongst the top ten States of the country in per capita GDP and SDG goals by 2032 is ambitious but possible. My Government will make every effort to make it possible. As an intermediate goal, Meghalaya will contribute to the vision of a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by increasing its GDP to 10 billion US Dollars by 2028″ Sangma said in his budget speech.
“The GSDP for 2024-25 is projected at ₹52,973 crore or 6.6 billion US Dollars. The annual growth rate for the period 2023-25 has been a reassuring 11.4%. These numbers are encouraging and demonstrate the State is on track to achieve the 10 billion US Dollar economy target” he said.
