GDP gap between high- and low-income states worrisome: Suman Bery

NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery also pointed out that aggregate employment has increased by 150 million, of which 80 million women entered agricultural work

High-income states, which account for 26 per cent of India's population, contribute 44 per cent of GDP, while low-income states, with 38 per cent of the population, generate only 19 per cent of GDP, a divergence that is worrisome, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery said.

Delivering a lecture on India's Macro Challenge: Generating and Financing a Big Investment Push' at the 6th Economics Conclave at the School of Economics, University of Hyderabad here, on Monday, he said, "The development strategy that's appropriate for Tamil Nadu and for Bihar or Uttar Pradesh will necessarily be very different."  "And so it is the case that there has been divergence, and that's something we need to worry about. As you see, high-income states account for 26 per cent of the population but 44 per cent of GDP, while low-income states have 38 per cent of the population but only 19 per cent of GDP," he said.

Bery added, "I do want to bring to the Indian context the point that I made in a global contextthat in principle, the further behind you are, the faster you can grow."  He noted that some of the so-called BIMARU statesan acronym for Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradeshare performing well. "There is no reason to think that individual states are destined to lag forever," he said.

Bery also pointed out that aggregate employment has increased by 150 million, of which 80 million women entered agricultural work. "Of these, 40 million are unpaid family workers, but they are still seen as contributing to the household as an economic enterprise," he added.