Modi ‘blind’ to Telangana’s growth

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s allegations that development had taken a backseat in Telangana once again illustrate the desperate attempts by the BJP government at the Centre to discredit a State administration which has scripted a growth story that is being viewed as a model for others in the country to follow. Facts and figures […]

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s allegations that development had taken a backseat in Telangana once again illustrate the desperate attempts by the BJP government at the Centre to discredit a State administration which has scripted a growth story that is being viewed as a model for others in the country to follow.

Facts and figures don’t lie, particularly when they come from the union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The data released by MoSPI, every which way one looks at it, speak of an entirely different story of Telangana’s standing in every aspect of growth.

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For starters, Telangana, in 2021-22, recorded the second-highest growth rate of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at current prices (19.1 per cent) among the 17 States of which data was compiled and released by MoSPI. In the last five years (2017-18 to 2021-22), Telangana had the third-highest Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of the GSDP at 11.4 per cent among the 17 States.

Modi, addressing BJP workers and leaders at Begumpet on Thursday, bragged about India’s economic development progressing at a rapid pace even as he sought to project Telangana’s progress as far from satisfactory. That it was a pack of lies is clear from the fact that Telangana’s CAGR of GSDP at 11.4 per cent in the last five years was much higher than the national rate of 8.5 per cent. It doesn’t stop there. Telangana’s GSDP at current prices increased by 128.3 per cent from 2014-15 to 2021-22 against the country’s 89.6 per cent growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the same period!

In terms of the CAGR of GSDP, Telangana is ranked second among the southern States for the period 2017-18 to 2021-22 and fifth among the 17 States in terms of GSDP increase from 2014-15 to 2021-22. Going by the MoSPI data released in 2021-22, Telangana also recorded the third-highest Per Capita Income (PCI) among the 17 States. Telangana’s PCI, which is used to evaluate the standard of life, is a clear indication of the rapid development, and only Goa and Sikkim which are relatively smaller States geographically, registered higher PCI than Telangana.

With a PCI growth rate of 18.8 per cent, Telangana is ranked second among these States in terms of PCI growth rate at current prices. Telangana’s PCI increased by 124.7 per cent against the country’s overall increase of 72.9 per cent from 2014-15. Significantly, based on the CAGR values recorded in the last five years, the PCI in Telangana is expected to double in the next six to seven years while it would take about 10 to 11 years for the country’s PCI to double!

Top-notch show in agri sector

Hyderabad: Telangana’s track record and performance in agriculture and allied sectors also place it in an enviable position. It is not merely the high GSDP and PCI that give Telangana a pride of place. The current-price CAGR of agriculture and allied sector in the last five years (2017-18 to 2021-22) in Telangana is 17 per cent against the country’s average of 8.8 per cent! The Gross Value Added (GVA) by the ‘Livestock’ sub-sector increased by 222.4 per cent from 2014-15 to 2021-22 in the State. The GVA of crops and fishing and aquaculture sub-sectors also increased by more than 100 per cent during the same period. The CAGR of livestock was 19.3 per cent, crops 15.6 per cent and fishing and aquaculture 13.8 per cent.