Maharashtra's economy is expected to grow at a mere 5.7% during the current financial year against 7.3% in 2013-14, mainly due to deficient rain. The state economic survey presented in the legislature ahead of Wednesday's budget paints a grim picture, especially for the agricultural sector. The sector is expected to shrink 12.3% compared to an 8.1% growth in 2013-14. Projected industry growth of 4% is also down.
Worryingly , the human development index in 27 of the 36 districts in the state is lower than the overall state average of 0.75.
Mumbai, Thane and Pune continue to be the largest contributors to Maharashtra's economy; together, they make up 46.8% of the Gross State Domestic Product, with individual contributions of 22.1%, 13.3% and 11.4% per cent respectively .
Nashik is the biggest contributor to the state's agricultural output, with a share of 10.4% in the sector. As far as the industry sector is concerned, Mumbai, Thane and Pune again are the big bulwarks, having a combined share of nearly 50%, while Mumbai tops in the services sector among all districts at 27.4% and Thane comes in second at 14.1%.
The three top cities have also combined to keep the state at fourth position among states in terms of per capita income, the State Economic Survey for 2014-15 has revealed.
According to the first revised estimates of state income, the Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) is estimated to increase by 14.2% from Rs.11,96,209 crore to Rs.13,65,149 crore at current prices. The per capita income is expected to go up to Rs.1,17,091 as compared to Rs.1,03 856 the previous year considering current prices.
Maharashtra comes in fourth after Delhi, Haryana and Sikkim when it comes to per capita income. The survey mentions that it is the second highest among `major states'.
When contacted, A D Deo, director of economics and statistics, clarified that the state is at the number two position among major states and fourth among all states.
However, in terms of Human Development Index, the state is well below the top five ones with its average of 0.572. As far as the literacy rate is concerned, Maharashtra is behind states such as Kerala, Mizoram, Tripura, Goa, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.
Socio-economic indicators shows the state is third in terms of per capita deposit (Rs.1.75 lakh), after Delhi and Goa, whereas in per capita credit (Rs.1.54 lakh) it is second. Delhi is on top both in terms of deposit and credit, with Rs.4.14 lakh and Rs.4.20 lakh respectively.
According to the survey report, the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector and fruits and vegetables may grow by 1.1%, while food grains and even pulses and oilseeds may decline.
Manufacturing, mining and quarrying, electricity , gas and water supply and also construction (4.5%) are expected to grow in the range of 2.3% to 9.6%. Services like trade, hotels, transport and communication and services related to the broadcasting sector are expected to witness an 8.4% growth. The highest expectations are from the finance, real estate and professional services, which may grow 13.7%, and public administration, defence and other services may go up by 9%.
The agriculture sector is expected to shrink 12.3% as against an 8.1% growth the previous year. The enormity of the decline can gauged from the 5.2% decline when compared to 2012-13 that has been considered as the worst drought year in the state. This is glaring considering the present financial year has comparatively seen only `deficient' rainfall and `drought-like conditions' but not a drought.
Reeling under a drought for the previous two years, last year the state received only 70% rainfall. Due to deficient rains in kharif season 2014, the area under rabi crops is expected to decrease by 27% as compared to the previous year. Except for water-guzzling sugarcane, production of all major crops is expected to decrease, states the report.
Agriculture, forestry and fisheries as a whole is expected to shrink 8.5% against a 7.7% growth last year despite higher growth seen in forestry and fisheries.
The projected industry growth of 4.0% is down in comparison to 4.5% last year.The drag is attributable to manufacturing, as other sub-sectors show a smart improvement in growth as compared to that in the previous fiscal. Manufacturing growth slid to 0.5% as against 2.5% in 2013-14. Mining and construction industries show growth of 0.5% and 10.4%. Electric, gas and water supply show growth of 16.3% against 10.5% the previous year.
The services industry shows a growth of 8.1%, down from 8.6% last year. The reason is not far to seek. Trade, hotels and restaurants, communication and transport show a growth rate of 6.9% as against 7.6% last year. Finance, insurance, real estate and business services fare better with 10.1% growth as against 9.8% last year.
The good news is the revised estimates for last year place the per capita income in the state at Rs.1.17 lakh in 2013-14 as against Rs.1.04 lakh in 2012-13, a growth of 12.7%.
The state's revenue deficit as per the presented 2014-15 budget is Rs 4,103 crore, fiscal deficit is Rs 30,965 crore and debt is Rs 3 lakh crore. Despite the BJP-led government warning of a financial crisis, as per the economic survey, “the percentage of fiscal deficit to GSDP for 2013-14 is 1.84 and debt stock to GSDP is 17.81, which is well within the limits stipulated by the 13th Finance Commission under Consolidated Fiscal Reform Path.“
On the aspect of quality of life, the overall Human Development Index (HDI) of the state in 2012 as published in 2014 was 0.752. However, the HDI of 27 of the 36 districts was lower that the state's HDI. Mumbai had the highest HDI at 0.841, whereas Nandurbar had the lowest at 0.6.
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