A notable development following the economic liberalisation in 1991 is the emergence of southern states, especially Karnataka and Telangana, as economic powerhouses and overall, the southern states together accounted for 30.6 per cent of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023-24, said a paper by the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) to the Prime Minister released on Tuesday.The EAC-PM paper looked at the relative performance of states in terms of their share of the national economy and their per capita GDP as per cent of the national average since 1960-61.
It revealed that before 1991, southern states did not show expectational performance. However, since the economic liberalisation, the southern states have emerged as the leading performers.
“In 2023-24, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu together accounted for approximately 30 per cent of India’s GDP,” the paper noted.
Karnataka’s share in India’s GDP was 5.4 per cent in 1960-61, and it remained almost the same until 1990-91. However, after the policy shift, the state saw rapid growth, with its GDP share rising to 6.2 per cent by 2000-01 and reaching 8.2 per cent by 2023-24. This growth has positioned Karnataka with the third-largest share of India’s GDP.
Undivided Andhra Pradesh (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) now accounts for 9.7 per cent, an increase of 2.1 percentage points since 1990-91 with most of the increase in share accounted for by Telangana. After bifurcation, the share of Andhra Pradesh has remained broadly flat.