Odisha economy increased by five times in last 17 years: Behera

27 October, Bhubaneswar

The size of Odisha’s economy has increased by about five times in real terms during the last seventeen years, State Finance Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera said.

Addressing the state of the State Conclave organisd by India Today, Behera said the real per capita income has increased from Rs.14,862 in 1999-2000 to Rs.61,678 in 2016-17 at 2011-12 prices.

Poverty in Odisha has declined by 24.6 percentage points from 57.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 32.6 per cent in 2011 as per Tendulkar Committee Methodology, which is the highest reduction among major states in India,he claimed.

The state, the Finance Minister said, has made substantial investment in physical infrastructure to attract manufacturing and service industries especially in MSME sector. “We have focussed on good governance through 3Ts Teamwork, Transparency & Technology so that the services are efficiently and effectively delivered,” he said adding that there is ample evidence to suggest that thisdevelopment model has succeeded.

Behera said in spite of our impressive achievements of strong growth and over-all socio-economic development in recent years, there is a historical developmental gap that needs to be bridged. ” In order to catch up with the developed states, there is need for Odisha to fast-track the momentum of inclusive growth. While we are trying to make best use of our resources, we do need much more resources than what we can ourselves generate.”

The Finance Minister said the Centre should come forward for supportingus with additional financial resources and to also step-up direct investments by Central agencies and PSUs in building physical and social infrastructure in Odisha.