Odisha registers 7.94% growth, 82 lakh people cross BPL

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has registered a gross state domestic product (GSDP) growth rate of 7.94 per cent in 2016-17 against the national average of 7.1 per cent, besides registering a big reduction in the rate of poverty.

These were stated in the Odisha Economic Survey, 2016-17, which was placed in the Assembly by Finance Minister Pradip Kumar Amat today.

The real per capita income of Odisha increased from Rs 47,632 in 2011-12 to Rs 61,678 in 2016-17 at 2011-12 prices, the report said.

Over the same period, India's per capita income grew 6.5 per cent to Rs 81,805 from Rs 77,524.

Though Odisha's economy has been on a high-growth trajectory in recent years, the state lagged behind the national average for decades in the past.

From 2003, the state registered growth of above eight per cent as against the national average of 7.5 per cent.

However, the contribution of manufacturing sector to the state's growth has declined to 18.27 per cent in 2016-17 from 19.19 per cent in 2015-16. With iron, steel and non-ferrous metals contributing 72 per cent to manufacturing sector, the gross value stood at Rs 63,695 crore.

The service sector contributed 43.53 per cent to the GSDP and the sector is expected to grow 8.08 per cent in 2016-17, the report said.

On poverty reduction, the report said about 82 lakh poor people moved up from below poverty lines in eight years. "The poverty in Odisha has declined by 24.61 percentage point (average annual decline of 3.52 percentage points) from 57.20 per cent in 2004-05 to 32.59 per cent in 2011-12, the highest reduction among major states," it said.

Stating that India recorded 15 percentage points (average annual decline of 2.14 percentage points) of poverty reduction during the same period, the survey report said that rural urban status of poverty reduction in Odisha is equally impressive. Poverty reduced by 25.11 and 20.31 percentage points in rural and urban Odisha respectively as against 16 and 12 percentage points for India.

Among the regions, the report said that northern region has registered the highest reduction of poverty with 30.53 percentage point followed by the southern region (25.40) and the coastal region (19.95) between 2004-05 and 2011-12.

The state government's total expenditure, which was 18.48 per cent of the GSDP in 2011-12, increased to 24.82 per cent in 2016-17, the report said adding that capital expenditure also witnessed a rise in the same period from 3.27 per cent to 5.17 per cent.