Odisha registers 8.4% growth in 2018-19

Bhubaneswar:Driven by the industry sector Odisha has registered 8.4 per cent economic growth in the financial year 2018-19 against 7.4 per cent in 2017-18, according to the Economic Survey Report 2018-19.

Although, the per capita income of the state has grown by Rs 28,000 in the last seven years, the unemployment rate in 2017-18 was higher than the rest of the country.

With the growth in its per capita income, this eastern coastal state has also shown faster growth rate than states like Haryana, Punjab, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand, the growth analysis of the past five years between these states have shown, the report said.

"This high rate of growth was largely driven by the industry sector. Its share in the total output has been consistently increasing since the last four years and in 2018-19, it is expected to contribute 39.47 per cent to the state's Gross Value Added (GVA)," the report said.

Of the three sectors -- agriculture and allied activities, industry and services, it is the industry sector that has grown the fastest. The manufacturing sector too exhibited a double-digit growth for the fourth year in a row.

With the state being home to the country's largest mineral deposits, Odisha has significant comparative advantage in the mining and manufacturing industries.

The average monthly household income in agriculture sector has increased to Rs 7,731 in 2016-17 from Rs 4,976 in 2012-13.

The 2017-18 drought had caused a contraction in agricultural output. However, the sector recovered in 2018-19 with a robust growth rate of 8.3 per cent. Activities like livestock rearing and aquaculture have emerged as the fastest growing sub-sectors of agriculture and allied sector, said the report.

Inflation in 2018-19 was 2.9 per cent, which is lower than all India average, implying greater purchasing power, it said.

The report claimed that Odisha has witnessed strong growth in per capita income.

In 2018-19, state's per capita income (in real terms) was expected to be Rs 75,796 from Rs 70,799 in 2017-18.

It said that the unemployment rate in the state in 2017-18 was 7.1 per cent while the same was 6.1 per cent in India.