The Champion States

The latest edition of our annual SOS survey alters perceptions about achiever and laggard states and throws up surprises

- Kaushik Deka

Competitiveness is a universal and time-tested idea to promote growth. Competition among states, to outdo each other in economic development and social welfare, could well be the trigger our country desperately needs to rev up the slowing economy. The Narendra Modi government has often advocated a growth model that blends cooperation between the Centre and the states with the inter-state competition. India today outlined this concept of mapping the performance of states way back in 2003, with the State of the States (SOS) study.

Sixteen years on, the SOS study not only remains the most comprehensive and credible benchmark for assessing a state’s socio-economic development, but it has also evolved in its scope and methodology. The study is based on objective data sourced from government bodies and credible agencies. To avoid giving undue advantage to states with a legacy of performance or under-achievement, the evaluation is done under two broad groups—best performing and most improved. The best performing category examines the absolute numbers for the latest year for which data is available. The most improved category examines states’ progress over the past five years.

The SOS study has gradually altered perceptions about achievers and laggards. Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Gujarat are three of the best performing states that have traditionally been among India’s high-growth achievers. In this year’s SOS rankings, they found place among the top five in many of the 12 categories. Yet, in terms of improvement in the past five years, they were among the bottom five in four to six categories.