The JharkhandEconomicSurvey2022-23, tabled by the government in the State Legislative Assembly estimated 7.8 per cent GSDP Growth in the Financial Year 2022-23 over theGSDP of 2021-22, while it stated that the Average annual growth rate of the Stateeconomywas 8.2 per cent in FY 2021-22 and in 2023-24 it is estimated to grow at 7.4 per cent.
Thesurveyreportprepared by the Centre for Fiscal Studies, Planning cum Finance department, Government of Jharkhand further stated that theGSDPof Jharkhand grew by only 1.1 per cent during the financial year 2019-20 and it contracted by 2020-21 due to the global economic slowdown owing to Covid 19 induced reasons.
The of the country had declined by 6.6 per cent during the Covid-19 pandemic, while that of the state had declined by only 5.5 per cent during this period. Despite the second and the third waves of COVID-19 19 pandemic, the economy of the state recovered in the year 2021-22.
The GSDP at constant (2011-12) prices of Jharkhand remained at 1.61 per cent of the GDP at constant prices of the country in the year 2021- 22 and the per capita income of the state is approximately 40 per cent less than that of the country. Except for a few years, the growth rate of Jharkhand has mostly been higher than that of the country. In the current financial year (2022-23) while the growth rate of the country has been estimated to grow by 7 per cent, that of Jharkhand by 7.8 per cent and in the coming financial year (2023-24) while the country is estimated to grow in the range of 6 to 6.8 per cent, Jharkhand is estimated to grow by 7.4 per cent. The share of the GSDP of the state in the GDP of the country is, thus, estimated to increase in the coming years.
Among the three major sectors of the state’s economy, the Tertiary Sector has grown at the fastest rate. Between 2011-12 and 2021-22, this sector grew at the average annual rate of 5.8 per cent while the primary and the secondary sectors grew at the average annual rate of 19 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively. In the year 2019-20, while the value of the output of the tertiary sector grew at the rate of 6.7 per cent, that of the primary grew by 0.2 per cent. The same in the Secondary Sector contracted 5.3 per cent. In the year 2020-21, the output of the tertiary sector contracted by 8.7 per cen. that of the secondary sector by 2.3 per cent. The same of the Primary Sector contracted by 3.8 per cent. The tertiary sector has not only been the major contributor to the GSVA of the state but its shara inates also increased over the years. In the year 2011-12, its share in the GSVA of the state was 38.5 per cent which grew to 44.6 per cent in the year 2021-22. The share of the secondary sector has remained the same while that of the primary sector has decreased over the years.
The Inflation rate remained within the rate stipulated in the ‘New Monetary Policy Framework’ throughout the year 2021 in Jharkhand but surpassed this level in the year 2022. The rate of inflation remained high throughout the year 2022 i.e. from January 2022 to October 2022 it remained above 6 per cent, the RBI’s stipulated upper limit, and has remained marginally below 6 per cent in the last two months of this year. In Jharkhand, the prices of fuel, Light, clothing and footwear have increased very sharply in comparison to other commodity groups during the last one and half years i.e. from August, 2021 to December 2022. The inflation rate of the State has decreased in the last two months of the year 2022 (November and December).
The head count ratio of POVERTY in Jharkhand decreased by about 13 per cent (5.6 Percentage points) between the years 2015-16 and 2019-21. In the year 2015-16 (NFHS-IV), 42.16 per cent of the people in the state were found to be ‘multidimensional poor’. About 50.93 per cent people in the rural areas and 15.26 per cent people in the urban areas were estimated to be ‘multidimensional poor’ in the state. The improvement in the indicators of Health and Education and in the standard of living of the people caused a fall in the incidence of poverty in Jharkhand. In the year 2019-21, the percentage of multidimensional poor decreased to 36.6 per cent i.e. to 42.2 per cent in the rural areas and 11.1 per cent in the urban areas.