Economist has this amazing analysis which replaces India’s states and Union Territories with different countries on 3 parameters – GDP, GDP/capita and Population (HT: PB, a reader of the blog). The figures need to be updated as we have census figures for 2011. But I doubt there would be any major changes from the 2008 list.
- In GDP, Maharashtra is largest and equal to S’pore. Andaman is smallest and equal to Comoros
- In Population, UP leads the list and is equal to Brazil (actually UP is higher at 195.8 bn compared to Brazil at 191.5 mn). Smallest here is Andaman as well
- In GDP per capita, Maharashtra which has highest GDP is now at 6th position and equal to Sri Lanka (Maha at $4743). Highest in the list is Chandigarh and has per capita equal to St Vincent and Grenades. GDP per capita picture is pretty disappointing with many greys showing lower per capita GDP. Look at the countries which fit in states here. Something states will not like..
Overall, the story of per capita GDP being very low remains. The article says:
How big is Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state? One way of answering the question is to take its total area: 95,000 square miles (246,000 sq km). Another way is to think of it as a country. If Uttar Pradesh were to declare independence, it would be the world’s fifth most populous country (as the map below shows, it has about the same number of residents as Brazil). Yet its economy would only be the size of Qatar, a tiny oil-rich state of fewer than 2m people. That makes it poor on a per person basis. Despite India’s two decades of rapid growth, Uttar Pradesh’s GDP per head is close to that of Kenya. The map below presents country equivalents for India’s states and territories in terms of GDP, GDP per person (in PPP terms) and population. Please play around with it and tell us what you think.
A typical case of states having populations equivalent to many countries put together. But in terms of GDP per capita we need many Indian states to add up to show totals equal to even mid-income countries..Even GDP is not impressive barring a few states.
Long way to go..
Mostly Economics 
June 28, 2011 at 10:07 am
Such kind of divide reveals local and state leadership can cause stark changes in fortune of the residents. Bihar and U.P. systemetically chose to remain backward. The leadership in these states shun the progressive policies for caste based politics, dumped need of expanding social infrastucture for social engineering and throttled the private enterprise by massive state machinery.
June 30, 2011 at 7:30 am
this is very well said sir…it sums up what has been going on in India for a while…india clearly is a case of whole being larger than the sum of parts….country wise numbers look much better compared to when one starts summing of the states..
worst is if current central govt policies continue, whole might look bad as well