Structural Change of Bihar Economy during 1999 to 2010: A District Level Analysis

Abstract

Conventionally, the economic growth of a country is appraised in form of gross domestic product (GDP). In Bihar, the per capita net state domestic product (NSDP) is the lowest among the major states in Inida, and it is only one-third of the national level of per capita GDP. The services, industry, and agricultural sectors contributed 52 per cent, 28 per cent, and 20 per cent to India's overall GDP respectively, in 2006. However, the contribution of these major sectors to GDP at state level is not uniform. For Bihar at state level, the share of primary sector[1] is continuously decreasing over the stated time period. For the secondary[1] sector, the share had decreased after bifurcation of Bihar, however, that share increased a little bit in 2009-2010. And similar to the India average, the share for Tertiary sector is continuously increasing at 60% of NDDP. The dictrics like Patna, Begusarai, Munger and Bhagalpur which are higher per capita NDDP, are very less share in primary sector. The most important part here is the very low share of industrial sector. However, the share of industrial sector has started increased during the period 2005-2010. Structure of Bihar's economy is changing not only at state level, but at district level also. And these changes need to be more casious planning and good initiatives from Govt. And the change is already in its way.