Odisha’s economy has registered a sharp recovery in 2021-22 with Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) clocking a growth rate of 10.1%, says the Odisha Economic Survey which was tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday.
“It is one of the fastest growing States in the country and has registered a growth rate much higher than India’s Gross Domestic Product growth rate of 8.8% as per the first advance estimate,” it says.
Stating that Odisha faced the adverse impact of COVID-19 with the GSDP contracting by 5.3% in 2020-21 against a contraction of 6.6% in India’s GDP, the report says the State’s demonstrated far more resilience and reverted to the pre-pandemic level much faster.
“While India’s real GDP grew by 1.6% 2019-20 to 2021-22 leaving aside the COVID year of 2020-21, the comparable figure for Odisha is 4.2%. Not only Odisha’s recovery process is faster, but it is also more broad-based,” it maintains.
The survey has projected that the GSDP could grow by 9-9.5% in 2022-23 if there is normal monsoon, no furthermore damaging waves of coronavirus mutations and induced economic disruption, stable oil prices and steadily easing of supply chain.
The Economic Survey, however, expressed concerns over the Russia and Ukraine conflict saying it may bring in further uncertainty.
Presenting a rosy picture about State’s financial health, it says the per capita income of Odisha has also grown at a double-digit rate of 16.8% in 2021-22.
“The average growth of Odisha’s per capita income over the last 10 years (2012-13 to 2021-22) is 10.3% against 9.15% growth rate in the case of India. Odisha’s per capita income of ₹48,499 in 2011-12 has reached ₹1,27,383 in 2021-22,” the survey says.
Though per capita income of Odisha is still lower than that of India, the rate at which it is growing implied that it would soon exceed the country’s level. Odisha’s per capita income is 76% of the per capita income of India in 2011-12. (It stands now at 84.7% in 2021-22), the survey finds.
According to the report, between 2011-12 and 2019-20, there are only nine States, including Odisha, whose per capita income rank has improved, while in the case of 10 States, there is no change in rank and another 10 States have dropped in per capita income ranking.
The improvement in per capital income has been mostly driven by growth in industry (14.5%) and service sector (7.9%).
The survey points out that agriculture and allied sector has registered a contraction of 3.4% in 2021-22 due to drought, unseasonal rain, and cyclone. Inflation was estimate at 5.3%.
