What happened to West Bengal? Once upon a time, it dominated GDP… today it has only this share

The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has released a report revealing the richest and poorest states in India. Here we are told in numbers which states contribute how much to the country’s Gross Domestic Product, or GDP in India. From these numbers, it is easy to estimate the economic status of the state, and the numbers for West Bengal are surprising.

West Bengal data raises concerns
The EAC-PM report released on Tuesday showed that West Bengal’s share in the country’s GDP has been declining rapidly under the Mamata Banerjee government. This trend has continued over the past few decades. The report said that West Bengal’s share in GDP was 10.5% in 1960-61 and has now come down to just 5.6%. Not only that, the per capita income here has also fallen from 127.5% of the national average to 83.7%.

These figures for West Bengal are worrying as the state’s per capita income level is lower than that of traditional backward states like Rajasthan and Odisha. Despite its initial strong economic performance, West Bengal’s economy has witnessed a steady and surprising decline. Except for Bangladesh, other coastal states have performed better than the rest of the country.

Things are improving in Bihar, Maharashtra is shocked here
While the report describes the situation in West Bengal as deplorable, the data for Bihar offers some relief as the situation in the state has remained stable over the past two decades. Still, it is still far behind other states and to catch up with them, it will have to develop very fast. Despite being the third most populous state in the country, its contribution to GDP is 4.3%. Apart from this, Uttar Pradesh’s contribution to GDP has declined to 9.5% from 14% in 1960-61.

Maharashtra is singled out in this report as the state that continues to be the largest contributor to India’s GDP. However, its share has declined slightly over the past few years, from 15% to 13.3%. Despite this, Maharashtra’s per capita income will still be 150.7% of the national average by March 2024.

Southern states, including Delhi-Haryana, dominate
If we go further in the report, the dominance of southern states in the list of states that contribute significantly to the country’s GDP has increased and these states have above average per capita income. According to EAC-PM, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu together account for 30% of India’s GDP.

Meanwhile, Haryana and Delhi have been performing well, with Delhi retaining the highest per capita income. In 2023-24, Delhi’s per capita income will be 250.8% of the national average, Telangana’s 193%, Karnataka’s 180.7%, Haryana’s 176.8%, and Tamil Nadu’s 171.1%.