Updated data show better financial position of M’laya

From CK Nayak

NEW DELHI, July 29: After NITI Aayog ranked Meghalaya as the second-poorest state in India after Bihar, the hill state seems to have done well in the current financial year, data showed.
States like Meghalaya, Mizoram, Assam, Bihar and Manipur noted a pickup in the gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the financial year (FY) 2023, Bank of Baroda said in a report.
Out of the 26 states analysed, the report stated that a nominal GDP growth in FY23 rose only in the case of five states, while all others witnessed moderation.
In FY23, the most significant breach was noted in the case of states like Nagaland (+1537bps), Bihar (+808bps) and Mizoram (+423bps). Other states which exceeded their fiscal deficit targets by more than a percentage point included Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.
On the other hand, states like Uttarakhand (-219bps) and Chhattisgarh (-205bps) achieved fiscal consolidation of more than two percentage points in FY23.
Other states which recorded consolidation by over/near a percentage point include Kerala (-167bps), Jharkhand, Telangana, Odisha, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka (-99bps).
Smaller leaps were made by Rajasthan (-33bps), Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh (-72bps), it mentioned.
GDP growth in Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka slowed the most, the report added.
The NITI Ayog data was based on reports prior to 2023 fiscal year.