Punjab’s financial decline has seamlessly merged into its economic decline, making it one of the slow growing states of the country.
During the past 10 years, the growth rate of Punjab remained lower than the all-India average, except in 2013-14, when it was slightly higher. The growth rate was as low as 4.2% against 7.5% at all-India level in 2014-15.
This was stated in a white paper on finances presented in the state assembly a day before finance minister Manpreet Badal announced the budget for 2017-18 on Tuesday.
The average growth of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) recorded from 2006-07 to 2015-16 was 6.37%, which was lower than the average growth recorded by Goa (10.68%), Bihar (10.08%), Gujarat (9.7%), Madhya Pradesh (8.54%), Haryana (8.3%), Maharashtra (7.71%) and Tamil Nadu (7.66%).
Also, the state, which held the top position in per capita income for a long time, has slid to the seventh position among the major states.