Growth rate in Himachal Pradesh rises to 7.3 %
Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has a reason to smile. The growth rate in Himachal Pradesh, as par estimates, is estimated at 7.3 percent during 2018-19, which is much higher than last year's 6.5 percent.
State's economic Survey report for year 2018-19, which Chief Minister tabled in the state Vidhan Sabha on Friday also posted an increase of record 10 percent in the Per Capita Income,which is estimated at Rs 1,76,968. Thakur, who also holds the finance portfolio will present state's budget for 2019-20 in the House on Saturday. This will be his second budget after becoming Chief Minister in December 2017.
As par data collected by the State government's department of Economic and statistics, the growth rate of the state in 2017-18 was 6.5 percent in 2017-18, which was even lower than 7.0 percent in 2016-17.
However, during past one year things have changed for the good. The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at current prices at end of the year in 2018-19 is likely to be about Rs 1,51,835 crore.
"According to the advance estimates, the Per Capita Income at current prices during 2018-19 has been estimated at Rs 1,76,968 against Rs 1,60,711 in 2017-18 showing an increase of 10.1 percent," said Chief Minister expressing satisfaction over the growth achieved during past one year.
This was despite the fact that state has suffered a blow in the agriculture sector, which is backbone of the economy .
The declining share of agriculture sector does not, however, affect the importance of this sector in the overall state economy as the state economic growth still was being determined by the trend in agriculture and horticulture production.
The report says Transport Storage, Communication & Trade has shown a significant growth 3.7 percent during 2017-18. The transport by other means component of this sector has shown a growth of 5.9 percent. Even the finance and real estate, business, trade, Banking, Insurance, Ownership of dwellings and Business Services have together witnessed a growth of 4.5 percent in 2017-18.
