BIHAR ECONOMY : AN OVERVIEW

The economy of Bihar is presently on a continuous growth path, a result of sound development strategies of the state government, particularly the high levels of its development expenditure. According to the new series of data on Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), the growth rate of Bihar’s economy in 2017-18 was 11.3 percent, increasing from 9.9 percent a year before. During both these years, the growth rate of the national economy has been about 7 percent.

The GSDP of Bihar in 2017-18 was Rs. 4,87,628 crore at current prices. At constant (2011- 12) prices, the figure stood at Rs. 3,61,504 crore. The resulting Per Capita GSDP in 2017- 18 are — Rs. 42,242 (current prices) and Rs. 31,316 (constant prices).

In 2016-17, the highest growth rate was recorded by tertiary sector (12.8 percent), followed by primary sector (9.8 percent) and secondary sector (4.2 percent).

From a medium-term perspective, the sectors that are seen to grow at a faster rate and contribute most to the overall economy of Bihar are — mining and quarrying (60.0 percent), manufacturing (17.5 percent), TSCS (transport, storage, communications and services related to broadcasting) (11.4 percent). All these sectors have recorded a double-digit growth rate. Among the subsectors, air transport is seen to have grown at a very high rate of 35.2 percent.

For a comprehensive view of the current status of Bihar’s economy, We categorise in to two section:-

Agriculture and Allied Sectors

Industry Sector

Agriculture and Allied Sectors:-

Located in the eastern part of India, Bihar has an area of 93.6 lakh hectares, accounting for nearly 3 percent of the country’s total geographical area. Primarily, the climate is subtropical with peak summer temperatures averaging around 40 degree Celsius during March-May and 8 degree Celsius in winter months during December-January.

During 2018, the annual rainfall received due to the south-west monsoons in Bihar stood at 689.6 mms, which is about 20 percent less than the long run average rainfall of 848.2 mms.

The land use pattern has remained nearly unchanged over the last few years. The cropping intensity in the state has increased marginally from 1.44 in 2012-13 to 1.45 in 2016-17. Overall, about 56.55 percent of the land was under cultivation in Bihar during 2016-17.

The cropping pattern, nearly unchanged over the years, reveals that Bihar is primarily a cereal economy, with more than 85 percent of its gross cropped area under cereals. Considering the fact that Bihar has achieved self-sufficiency in foodgrain production, specific schemes for cultivation of pulses and oilseeds in rice fallows areas have been undertaken in the state under the scheme of ‘Targeting Rice Fallow Areas (TRFA)’ in Eastern India.

Among the major cereals, an increasing trend in production can be seen for both maize and rice, registering growth rates of 6.0 and 4.0 percent respectively, during the last five years. The total production of coarse cereals was 3.15 lakh tonnes in 2017-18, registering a growth rate of 6.0 percent between 2013-14 and 2017-18.

The productivity of cereals increased from 2595 kg per hectare in 2013-14 to 2839 kg per hectare in 2017-18. This has been made possible with sustained efforts by the state government through provision of quality seeds, tools and equipment through subsidy programmes and encouragement to adopt technologies to mitigate climatic risks.

The technological developments in the state have enabled diversification towards horticultural crops in Bihar. The overall production of vegetables increased from 142.42 lakh tonnes in 2015-16 to 148.12 lakh tonnes in 2017-18. The total acreage under fruits was 3.09 lakh hectares, producing a total output of 42.29 lakh tonnes during 2017-18.The consistent efforts of the state government through establishment of high-density orchards has encouraged production of mango, litchi and guava.

In 2017-18, the total consumption of fertilizers in Bihar was 49.95 lakh tonnes, which was slightly lower than the 51.95 lakh tonnes in 2015-16. Urea consumption was the highest at 40.8 percent of the total consumption, relative to other nutrients during 2017-18 in Bihar. Further, it is also noticed that nearly 60 percent of the fertilizer consumption in Bihar is during the rabi season.

The establishment of organic corridor is part of the Agricultural Road Map III and it is envisaged to cover around 25,000 acres during the period 2017-22, involving a fiscal outlay of Rs 255.00 crore. For promotion of organic farming, farmers have been identified in villages along river Ganges in the districts of Patna, Nalanda, Bhagalpur, Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai, Lakhisarai, Khagaria and Munger.

In Bihar, 44.67 lakh animals were treated during 2017-18, which is higher than those treated in the previous year (41.03 lakh). About 526.72 lakh animals were immunized in Bihar and the coverage of artificial insemination stood at 28.23 lakh animals in 2017-18.

In absolute terms, Bihar’s milk production increased to 92.41 lakh tonnes in 2017-18, increasing from 71.97 lakh tonnes in 2013-14.

A substantial increase in production of eggs is evident from its growth rate of 6.84 percent in the recent years. In 2017-18, egg production stood at 121.85 crores in Bihar. Similarly, meat production in the state increased from 2.92 lakh tonnes in 2013-14 to 3.43 lakh tonnes in 2017-18.

The abundant fresh water resources in the state provide impetus for development of fisheries. The fish production in the state steadily increased from 4.32 lakh tonnes in 2013- 14 to 5.87 lakh tonnes during 2017-18, registering a growth rate of 7.0 percent.

ENTERPRISES SECTOR

The growth in agro-based industries in Bihar (19.2 percent) was almost five times the growth rate achieved across all states of India (3.6 percent). In case of non-agro-based industries in Bihar, the growth rate was again higher in Bihar (6.9 percent) than the growth rate achieved at all-India level (4.4 percent).

In Bihar, the total number of Unincorporated Non-Agricultural Enterprises (UNAE) was about 34.48 lakh, about 5.4 percent of all such enterprises in the country. Bihar’s share of 5.4 percent of all enterprises in India was lower than Bihar’s population share of 8.6 percent of India. It was estimated to employ 53.07 lakh workers.

In Bihar, 11 sugar mills are presently in operation, of which 9 are part of private sector and two of public sector. In 2017-18 crushing season, sugar mills crushed 747.89 lakh quintals of sugarcane, 176.75 lakh quintals more than the previous year. The sugar recovery rate was 9.57 percent in 2017-18, marginally higher than in the previous year (9.17 percent). It is also important to mention that, on an average, sugar mills were in operation for 125 days a year, entailing better utilisation of installed capacity.

Under COMFED, 9 dairy cooperative societies are presently functioning, and 21.0 thousand milk cooperative societies were organised till 2017-18. The number of functional cooperative societies increased from 14.8 thousand in 2016-17 to 15.2 thousand in 2017- 18, registering a growth of 2.8 percent. Marketing of dairy products by COMFED has improved immensely in last few years. The number of retail outlets increased from 15.9 thousand in 2016-17 to 17.7 thousand in 2017-18, implying a growth of 11.8 percent. The sale of milk, ghee, lassi, paneer, dahi, ice-cream has registered a significant increase between 2016-17 and 2017-18.

Under the Mukhyamantri Kosi Mulberry Scheme, 7 districts in the Kosi region were selected for promotion of mulberry production. To increase the production of mulberry in Saharsa, Supaul, Madhepura, Araria, Kishanganj, Katihar and Purnea, the state government provided pumpset to 1975 farmers, worm rearing tools to 2447 farmers, and 642 farmers received assistance for construction of rearing house. The state government allotted Rs. 1415.10 lakh to Jeevika to provide above-mentioned facilities to the farmers. In 2017-18, the state government provided Rs. 3262.31 lakh to Jeevika exclusively for the Mulberry Project.

Between 2016 and 2017, there has been a growth of 13.4 percent in the arrival of tourists. More encouragingly, the growth rate of foreign tourists’ arrival was 7.1 percent.

Source:Economic Survey Report 2018-19:-Finance Department