By Nageshwar Patnaik in Bhubaneswar,  February 16, 2015 :

Odisha’s economic growth rate is expected to surge ahead of national growth with 8.78 % in real terms at market prices in 2014-15 despite the continuing economic slowdown at global as well as national level, according to the Odisha Economic Survey : 2014-15 placed before the Assembly on Monday.

Negative growth of 9.78% in agriculture sector had slowed down the state’s growing economy in 2013-14 with the growth nose-diving to all time low at 2.21% only due to negative growth in agriculture sector following Phailin and two flash floods in October 2013 and industrial recession.

The turnaround in the growth rate in the current fiscal is largely due to high growth registered by the industry and service sectors rather than agricultural sector, the Survey says.

“Odisha’s economy is becoming less agricultural, more industrial and more service oriented over time”, it says adding that the share of agriculture sector has steadily declined over the years and the share of industry and services sector have been increasing over the years.

The share of Services Sector is expected to be about 51.2% of the Gross State Domestic Product [GSDP] followed by the industry at 33.4% and agriculture [15.4%] in real terms at 2004-05 prices. The growth pattern, however, exhibits similar trend at national level. The performance of the agriculture sector continues to be highly volatile while the services sector has been growing in a comparatively stable manner, it says.

Though the agriculture sector provides sustenance fully or partially to about 60% of population, its contribution to gross state domestic product [GSDP] has come down drastically from 70% in the early 1950s to 15.4% as per the advance estimate for the year 2014-15.

The state has the record of the highest poverty reduction among major states in the country. However, the incidence of poverty among scheduled caste and tribe communities still continues to the high and “remains a matter of concern”, the Survey admits. Poverty in the state declined by 24.6% points from 57.2% in 2004-05 to 32.6% in 2011-12 as per estimates made the planning commission based on Tendulkar Committee methodology.

The South Odisha, which includes, KBK districts has the highest poverty [48% followed by north [39.97%] and coastal [21.65%] parts of the state. The state has 32.6% people living in poverty against the national average of 21.92% and it is the second poorest state in the country after Bihar, the Survey says.

The per capita income – a significant indicator of standard of living of the people, of the state during 2014-15 is estimated at Rs 28,384 accounting for a growth rate of 7.31% over 2013-14. “Though the gap in real per capital income between Odisha and the national average has been reducing over the recent years, this gap has remained a matter of concern Odisha still lags far behind in comparison to several faster growing state and national averages”, the Survey states.