Reflecting its buoyancy, the Bihar economy has registered an average annual growth rate of 10.5 percent in the last ten years, according to the latest Economic Survey released.
The growth performance of the Bihar economy has been steady over the past one decade registering an annual growth rate at 10.5 per cent between FY 2005-6 and 2014-15, the survey noted.
The Economic Survey was tabled in the legislative assembly by Bihar Finance Minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui. Among other salient features of Bihar’s growth story, the per capita income has gone up by 40.6 per cent in the last fiscal 2014-15 as against 37 percent in 2012-13; while the agriculture and animal husbandry, the bedrock of the state economy, has seen an increase of 6.02 per cent during 2005-06 to 2014-15.
The growth rate of agriculture and animal husbandry sector at 6.02 per cent is of special significance given that Bihar’s 90 percent population lives in rural areas and rely on this sector for their livelihood, the economic survey said.
As many as five sectors – communications (25.38%); registered manufacturing (19.31%); construction (16.58%); banking and insurance (17.70 %); and transport, storage and communication (15.08%) – have registered an average annual growth rate of more than 15 per cent.
On the state’s financial health, the survey says that the state stands to lose out Rs 50,000 crore from the Centre due to reduction of its share in the divisible pool of the taxes from 10.917 to 9.665 in percentage terms as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission recommendations.
The state’s Gross Fiscal Deficit too has moved northward at Rs 11,178 core in 2014-15 from Rs 3,970 crore in 2010-11 due to substantial increase of Rs 8,954 crore in capital investments, but despite increase over the years the GFD was in a comfortable position under the limit of three percent under the FRBM Act, 2003.
The revenue receipts of the state government too has increased substantially by Rs 9,499 crore during 2014-15 to reach Rs 78,418 crore, while the revenue expenditure has gone up by Rs 10,093 crore at Rs 72,570 crore last fiscal.
