UP's $1 trillion target gathers steam as state revives transformation panel

State government has operationalised the UP State Transformation Commission and tasked it with the job of catalysing growth

Uttar Pradesh (UP), India’s most populous state, is targeting trebling its gross state domestic product (GSDP) to become a $1 trillion economy by 2030, and a $6 trillion economy by 2047. 

The state government has tasked the Uttar Pradesh State Transformation Commission (STC) with the job of catalysing growth through innovation, collaboration, and harmony among state departments. 

The STC’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Singh, the organisation’s first, is excited about his job — transforming the development landscape of the state, which aspires to catch up with its more developed peers. 

Singh retired as chief secretary to the state government on July 31. 

The STC is likely to select 100 key projects each in the government and private sectors for monitoring, while there are plans to set up a State Data Authority. 

It will collate data with government departments, vet the data, and leverage it for policy making while ensuring that data privacy is protected. 

The STC will foster optimum utilisation of the state’s financial resources through public-private partnership (PPP), economic reforms, and a periodic evaluation of key projects. 

The commission, which is designated as a knowledge hub and resource centre, will also leverage information technology and digital technology communication tools to realise its objectives. 

The restructured version of the erstwhile Uttar Pradesh State Planning Commission, STC is essentially the state’s equivalent the NITI Aayog. Although the STC was approved by the state Cabinet in September 2022, it lay dormant over the past three years. 

During his stint as additional chief secretary, Singh had held the additional charge of Uttar Pradesh infrastructure and industrial development commissioner, ensuring that flagship projects and growth priorities were meshed. 

Talking to Business Standard, Singh said: “I will ensure that the transformation commission provides a platform for collaboration among departments and specialised institutions, civil-society organisations and expert bodies across the world, so that the best practices in policies and execution paradigms are adopted.” 

The $1 trillion target means almost trebling GSDP, according to him. 

In nominal terms, the state’s gross domestic product increased from ₹13.3 trillion in 2016-17 to ₹29.8 trillion in 2024-25. The state government hopes it will touch ₹35 trillion by the end of this financial year. 

Similarly, while the state’s per capita income has doubled from ₹54,000 in 2016-17 to approximately ₹1,08,000 in 2024-25, it

is nearly half the national average. 

The Yogi Adityanath-led government has set an ambitious target of raising Uttar Pradesh’s per capita income to ₹26 lakh by 2047. 

Moreover, Uttar Pradesh’s contribution to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to increase from 8 per cent in 2017 to 9.5 per cent in 2025. 

“We need something transformative. Mere incremental things will not take you to that level. So, it has to be technology- and innovation-led growth, which will come only when leading sectors like artificial intelligence (AI), data centres, electronics manufacturing and hi-tech things are leveraged,” Singh said. 

In recent years, UP has evolved into one of India’s most preferred destinations for investment, offering expressways, integrated industrial townships, dedicated freight corridors, and modern logistics parks. 

Strategic connectivity through air, road, rail, and waterways is providing a conducive business environment to industry, and access to major ports. 

At the UP Global Investors Summit (GIS) in February 2023, the state government netted investment proposals of almost ₹40 trillion, of which projects worth nearly ₹15 trillion have been launched. 

Singh, who has been appointed for a three-year term, said one of the main responsibilities of the transformation commission was to make recommendations based on evidence and data. 

The STC will also espouse the overarching theme of “Viksit Uttar Pradesh @ 2047” and institutionalise a 360 degree approach to realise the long-term development goals. It will collaborate with leading domestic and global research bodies and institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), among others. 

“The UP STC will go a long way in accelerating the tempo of socio-economic development of the state. Its role will merit paramountcy in contriving such strategies containing suitable policy designs which would hasten the process of investment and growth. Thus, this has the potential to actualise the target of $1 trillion, and subsequently making the state economy developed,” A P Tiwari, former professor of economics at Lucknow University, said.