BIHAR'S ECONOMIC STAGNATION: A CALL TO ACTION

AS INDIA GEARS towards the target of Viksit Bharat by 2047, the development of the state of Bihar emerges as an immediate concern for the country.

- Amit Kapoor & Kartik

A thorough examination of the state’s prevailing economic condition highlights the urgency of an integrated approach to Bihar’s development, with a balanced focus on both social and economic dimensions.

Bihar contributed 2.75 per cent to India’s GDP in fiscal 2022-23. Home to about nine per cent of the Indian people, Bihar has the lowest GDP per capita among all the states and UTs in the country at Rs 35,119. The extent of the distress can be gauged from the fact that if Bihar were an independent country, it would have stood as the 12th most populous nation in the world, somewhat identical to the size of economies like Japan and Mexico. But its per capita income would have been amongst the bottom five countries in the world, much below the least developed countries, such as Somalia, Sudan, and Sierra Leone. The district-level analysis shows that the per capita income of the state capital, Patna is high, at Rs131,064, as against districts such as Sheohar, with a per capita income of a mere Rs19,592. Such contrasts go a long way toward skewing the overall state average and underlining economic distress and inequality within Bihar. It is indicative not only of the overall economic lag compared to the national average but also of the uneven development within the state itself.