Gujarat’s economic growth post-liberalisation, and specifically in the last five years, has come in for handsome praise in the draft Gujarat Development Report, prepared by the Gujarat Institute of Development Research (GIDR) at the behest of the Planning Commission of India.
For a change, and much to the amusement of bureaucrats here, it is the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and some Union policies that get brickbats for stalling Gujarat’s spectacular growth.
Though the praise is more for Gujarat’s historical lead and not essentially for the incumbent dispensation, officials are happy that the State’s strengths are taken note of.
As such, the result is a long drawn critique of the State government and its performance, bureaucrats are happy that they are getting bouquets, for a change.
The report calls the State a “star performer” and a “manufacturing specialist” with investments in ports, roads, telecom and other infrastructure attracting unequivocal praise. Export-led growth of the country in the last five years allowed labour intensive Gujarat manufacturing clusters (diamonds, textiles, garments, cement, ceramics, tiles, plastics, auto ancillaries, drugs and pharmaceuticals) to ride the wave.
The report complains that Gujarat has realised average growth rates of only 14 per cent in manufacturing despite a potential for crossing the 20 per cent mark, this, because of conservative monetary and exchange rate policies of the Central government and the RBI. Calling it policy-induced underperformance, the report says that even tradable policies may have discriminated against manufacturing, Gujarat’s intrinsic strength.
Comparing the State with other states, the report finds Gujarat doing exceedingly well on most economic measures. The comparisons are made against Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. It gives an example of how growing from a much lower level of Rs 11,500 against Rs 13,500 of Maharashtra in 1993, the per capita income of Gujarat crossed that of its neighbour in 2003 and stood at Rs 19,500, a jump of over 70 per cent in a decade growing fastest among its peers.
“Gujarat is in a class by itself. Among its peer states, Gujarat has the highest rate of growth of GDP, manufacturing, and per capita SDP. The openness to immigration of labour, and the natural advantage of much land with little alternative use, local entrepreneurship, state support, and local politics that is not against capital are significant factors,” says the chapter on Economic performance of Gujarat in recent times.
In the making for the last two years, the draft report is now with the bureaucrats for a final perusal and comments before finalisation. The work was carried out under the overall guidance of Planning Commission Member (west) B N Yugandhar, who was recently in news for quitting the body.
For a change, and much to the amusement of bureaucrats here, it is the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and some Union policies that get brickbats for stalling Gujarat’s spectacular growth.
Though the praise is more for Gujarat’s historical lead and not essentially for the incumbent dispensation, officials are happy that the State’s strengths are taken note of.
As such, the result is a long drawn critique of the State government and its performance, bureaucrats are happy that they are getting bouquets, for a change.
The report calls the State a “star performer” and a “manufacturing specialist” with investments in ports, roads, telecom and other infrastructure attracting unequivocal praise. Export-led growth of the country in the last five years allowed labour intensive Gujarat manufacturing clusters (diamonds, textiles, garments, cement, ceramics, tiles, plastics, auto ancillaries, drugs and pharmaceuticals) to ride the wave.
The report complains that Gujarat has realised average growth rates of only 14 per cent in manufacturing despite a potential for crossing the 20 per cent mark, this, because of conservative monetary and exchange rate policies of the Central government and the RBI. Calling it policy-induced underperformance, the report says that even tradable policies may have discriminated against manufacturing, Gujarat’s intrinsic strength.
Comparing the State with other states, the report finds Gujarat doing exceedingly well on most economic measures. The comparisons are made against Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. It gives an example of how growing from a much lower level of Rs 11,500 against Rs 13,500 of Maharashtra in 1993, the per capita income of Gujarat crossed that of its neighbour in 2003 and stood at Rs 19,500, a jump of over 70 per cent in a decade growing fastest among its peers.
“Gujarat is in a class by itself. Among its peer states, Gujarat has the highest rate of growth of GDP, manufacturing, and per capita SDP. The openness to immigration of labour, and the natural advantage of much land with little alternative use, local entrepreneurship, state support, and local politics that is not against capital are significant factors,” says the chapter on Economic performance of Gujarat in recent times.
In the making for the last two years, the draft report is now with the bureaucrats for a final perusal and comments before finalisation. The work was carried out under the overall guidance of Planning Commission Member (west) B N Yugandhar, who was recently in news for quitting the body.