E-Paper
‘31.9% GSDP growth required to fuel Uttar Pradesh economy’s four-fold increase’
Yogi Adityanath has time and again asserted that the Uttar Pradesh government proposes to boost the GSDP to a trillion dollars in the next five years
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath may have exuded confidence that the state’s economy will grow four times in the next five next years but achieving the same may need the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to increase at 31.9% per annum if the prevailing scenario on the economic front gives any indication, analysts have said.
“In the past six years, we have been able to double the economy of Uttar Pradesh. We have been able to double the per capita income too. We did so during the period that included the period of the Covid pandemic. So, there should be no doubt that we will be able to make the state’s economy grow four times in the next five years,” the chief minister said after hoisting the national flag in front of Vidhan Bhavan on Independence Day on Tuesday.
Yogi Adityanath said Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to make India a five trillion-dollar economy and Uttar Pradesh must make its contribution to the same.
Yogi Adityanath has time and again asserted that the Uttar Pradesh government proposes to boost the GSDP to a trillion dollars in the next five years.
The state government’s revised estimates, in its analysis given with the annual budget for 2023-24, indicate that Uttar Pradesh’s GSDP has grown from ₹12.47 lakh crore in 2016-17 to ₹20.48 lakh crore in 2022-23. It is expected to grow to ₹24.39 lakh crore-in 2023-24.
Minister for finance Suresh Khanna, in his budget address (2023-2024) in the state legislative assembly, on February 22, 2023, said Uttar Pradesh’s GSDP grew 16.8% in 2021-2022. He said this was more than India’s growth rate and the GSDP is estimated to grow at 19% (at current prices) in 2023-24.
If U.P’s GSDP of ₹20.48 lakh crore is considered, the state will have to take its GSDP to ₹81.92 lakh crore in the next five years, which appears to be an ambitious target.
“Yes, the required growth rate of GSDP would be 31.9% per annum which looks quite an ambitious target to achieve. UP’s economy has come out of the Corona pandemic-induced slowdown and is now on way to sustained growth. With buoyant investment and the spate of infrastructure projects, U.P. is poised to move forward on a path of accelerated development,” said Professor Yashvir Tyagi, former head of department, Lucknow University.
“The compound annual growth rate of U.P.’s Gross State Domestic Product at current prices has been 8.28% during the period 2016-17 to 2021-22 as per data released by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, GOUP (Government of Uttar Pradesh). However, the budget of the state government has put the size of GSDP in 2022-23 as ₹20.48 lakh crore and the projected GSDP for 2023-24 as 24.39 lakh crore. If these estimates are realised, this would imply that the GSDP at current prices would grow at an encouraging rate of 19.09% in the current year,” he added.
If the present size of GSDP (20.48 lakh crore) is to be quadrupled over the next five years, the required growth rate of GSDP would be 31.9% per annum which looks quite ambitious,” he said.
It may be mentioned that the state government, in its Request for Proposal (RFP) for the selection of a consultant (now appointed to draw roadmap to boost the GSDP trillion-dollar), had admitted that “the Herculean task demands some giant steps to be taken by the state government to move forward.”
HOW YOGI GOVT HAS GONE ABOUT WORKING ON TRILLION-DOLLAR ECONOMY GOAL
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi floated the idea of making the state a trillion-dollar economy at the Uttar Pradesh Investors’ Summit 2018 held in Lucknow on February 21, 2018, chief minister Yogi Adityanath began holding consultations at various levels to achieve the goal.
The state government’s ministers and officers attended a brief learning session at Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow on September 8, 2019 to learn some lessons in good governance, development, political management and acquire skills to improve the delivery of government programmes. The IIM team later organised two more learning sessions.
The Uttar Pradesh cabinet on July 19, 2022 approved a proposal to appoint Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India as the consultant work out a roadmap to boost the size of GSDP to a trillion dollars in five years.
Deloitte Touché Tohmatsu India submitted a draft roadmap on November 6, 2022. The state government circulated the draft roadmap to all the departments and their suggestions were incorporated in the final roadmap.
Earlier, addressing the UP Investors Summit-2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “Can Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh compete to become a trillion-dollar economy? Will the Uttar Pradesh government compete with other states? The more the competition, the more will be the investment. This will result in the creation of more jobs and strengthen the concept of cooperative federalism.”
