The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : State economy on a roll, says Rosaiah

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Friday, Dec 07, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

State economy on a roll, says Rosaiah

Special Correspondent

Growth surpasses national average, with agriculture being the key factor

K. Rosaiah

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh has registered a Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growth rate of 9.7 per cent for the first six months of this fiscal up to September against the national average of 9.13 per cent.

Benign monsoon

The achievement became possible following “solid agricultural growth” at 10.20 per cent — 3.7 per cent higher than the projection made for the country. The agriculture growth, in turn, has been attributed to “a benign monsoon” and the boost given to farm sector through various initiatives, including free power supply.

Finance Minister K. Rosaiah stated at a press conference here on Friday that the phenomenal growth has placed the State on sound footing in the very first year of the 11th Plan, auguring well for the future of the economy.

This performance compares well with the GSDP growth rate of 5.67 per cent during 1995-2002, which was significantly lower than the national average of 6.13 per cent. However, due to a set of bold policy initiatives in several major areas, the growth rate moved ahead from 5.58 per cent during 2001-04 to 7.46 per cent during 2004-07. Continued good performance for four successive years was unheard of since the formation of the State, he said.

The cumulative result was that the State was in for achieving a foodgrain production of 180 lakh tonnes for 2007-08, the highest in its recorded history, he declared.

Mr. Rosaiah said the industrial growth, however, remained at 7.65 per cent for the period — 2.18 per cent lower than the national average of 9.83 per cent. Clubbed with the services sector that reported a growth of 10.61 per cent (national average 10.42 per cent), the industrial sector too was “quite healthy”. Efforts were on to attain the national average by continuing subsidised power tariff etc.

Job opportunities

A. K. Goel, Principal Secretary, Planning, who was also present, said the lower industrial growth was due to the latest policy to insist on creation of proper employment potential to encourage a new industry. The State’s “employment elasticity” was expected to go up to 4 per cent from 0.5 per cent shortly, thanks to the job opportunities generated by Jalayagnam, Indiramma and National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

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