West Bengal economy performs poorly over several decades: EAC-PM paper

West Bengal's economic decline, southern states' growth post-1991, and regional disparities in India's economic performance analyzed in a paper.

West Bengal has experienced a continuous decline in its relative economic performance over several decades, according to a working paper by Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).

Authored by EAC-PM member Sanjeev Sanyal, the paper ‘Relative Economic Performance of Indian States: 1960-61 to 2023-24’ said the development of eastern part of the country remains a concern.

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It said maritime States have clearly outperformed other States, with the exception of West Bengal.

Although Bihar’s relative position has stabilized in the last two decades, it remains significantly behind other States and requires much faster growth to catch up, the paper noted.

Conversely, Odisha, traditionally a laggard, has shown a marked improvement in recent years.

“West Bengal, which held the third-largest share of national GDP at 10.5% in 1960-61, now accounts for only 5.6% in 2023-24. It has seen a consistent decline throughout this period.