Karnataka, Bengal fastest growing States

  • 08/06/2005

  • Business Line (New Delhi)

Ranked by per capita GDP in 1993-94, the top five States were Punjab, Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, in that order. By 2001-02, 10 years into the reforms, per capita GDP in Maharashtra was only Rs 300 per year less than per capita GDP in Punjab, as against almost Rs 700 earlier. And Gujarat had overtaken Haryana for slot number 3; no doubt only by a hundred rupees, but then it was Rs 1,300 per annum below Haryana in 1993-94. This slide in the relative positions of Punjab and Haryana reflects the fact that reforms did more to spur the non-agricultural sectors of the economy rather than the agricultural sector.