Which is the richest state in India?

In this KBC season, one needs to be equipped with questions of all kinds especially on Indian states, history, geography etc.

Deepak Mohanty of RBI in this speech says Goa is the richest State in India. The speech is a snapshot of the Goan economy and financial system and is a nice one.

The scenic state of Goa is the 25th state in the union of states of India. It covers 0.11 per cent of the total geographical area of the country and accounts for a similar share of 0.12 per cent of national population. However, it has a much larger share of 0.4 per cent of all-India net domestic product (NDP).This explains why Goa is the richest state in India with a per capita income of almost three times that of the average for the country as a whole. It was ranked the best state by the Eleventh Finance Commission for its infrastructure. It also ranked at the top for the best quality of life in India by the National Commission on Population. The India Human Development Report 2011 ranked Goa as fourth in terms of overall human development in the country. The lushness of its landscape, geographical and ecological diversity and cultural richness make Goa a travelers’ paradise. Notwithstanding these achievements, Goa faces several developmental challenges, including in the areas of banking and finance.

It is important to have a well-functioning financial system for sustainable economic development. While the Reserve Bank has been actively engaged in the development of the financial sector, it has stepped up its efforts in recent years to enhance the penetration of the formal financial sector and promote financial inclusion with a view to improving the well-being of our society. In this regards, the Reserve Bank has been undertaking special initiatives for extending the outreach of banking facilities in the state. Against this background, I propose to briefly outline the economic and financial structure of the state as well as highlight various financial inclusion initiatives taken by the Reserve Bank. In conclusion, I shall present some thoughts on policy challenges ahead.

Couple of other points:

• Goa economy has a higher share of industry compared to India. It is more of an industrial state.
• The state of agriculture in the economy has worsened. It has some key crops like cashew, grapes etc which needs to be encouraged.  Agri also helps diversify the economy.
• Inflation in Goa higher than Average India since 2005.
• Fiscal Deficit numbers worsened post crisis (Just a q – has foreign tourism declined in Goa post crisis??)
• Socio economic profile is impressive with higher literacy rates, better sex ratio and health indicators
• Financial development is still not as great. RBI taking some efforts to improve this

Overall, it has huge potential which needs to be realised with the right kind of policy mix and thrust.

I don’t know whether this can happen so just taking a wild shot. RBI should encourage heads of various regional offices to share research/speeches on their regions and should be put up on RBI website. Will help understand India better. It is a very large country and  mostly we get all India aggregate picture. There is a need to understand regional economy as well..

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