E-Paper
To improve GSDP, UP govt aims at more coverage of unorganised sector
UP’s economy is characterised by a large informal economy and there is a need to formalise it by proper accounting of unregistered enterprises. GSDP estimates by DES should be brought out with fewer time lags, says professor
LUCKNOW Uttar Pradesh government is working on better coordination with different sectors/departments to ensure more coverage of unorganised sector in gross state domestic product (GSDP) calculations and bring about further improvement in the GSDP to achieve the objective of making the state a trillion-dollar economy in five years.
The state government’s budget projects a GSDP of ₹2439171 crore in 2023-2024.
A team of the state government led by secretary (planning) Alok Kumar-III met secretary (ministry of statistics and programme implementation) GP Samanta in New Delhi recently and discussed the methodology for the GSDP calculations and how to bring about improvement in the GSDP.
“I along with the state government’s team met MOSPI secretary and discussed the GSDP calculations methodology. We also held discussions on how to bring about an improvement in the GSDP. We are getting in touch with all departments for better coordination to ensure more coverage of unorganised sector in the state and take the GSDP up further to achieve the objective of making the state a trillion-dollar economy,” said Alok Kumar on phone.
Kumar, who is UP government’s nodal officer for one-trillion dollar economy goal, said the departments are being told about the methodology for GSDP calculations while chief secretary DS Mishra has presided over meetings of different sectors. “We follow the union government’s methodology for GSDP calculations. All the departments are being told about the same methodology at these meetings,” he said.
In his budget address recently, minister for finance Suresh Khanna said UP’s GSDP grew 16.8% in 2021-2022, and this is more than India’s growth rate. “The GSDP is estimated to grow 19% in 2023-2024,” he said.
“Improving the methodology of accounting of GSDP and other aggregates is highly desirable as there is a possibility of under/incorrect estimation of GSDP. UP’s economy is characterised by a large informal economy and there is a need to formalise it by extending registration and proper accounting of unregistered enterprises. Further, the GSDP estimates by DES should be brought out with fewer time lags. For example, only revised advance estimates have been released for 2021-22 and there are no estimates for 2022-23,” said Professor Yashvir Tyagi, former head of department, economics, Lucknow University.
He added: “Improved and timely estimates of GSDP would also help in proper monitoring of progress of state economy.”
