• The average growth of the Indian economy during 1990s worked out to 5.77 per cent. Out of the 17 major States, 8 States had recorded better than all-India growth, while 9 States performed below all-India average.
• Karnataka, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra were among the top rankers in terms of growth rates. Assam and Bihar were laggards during the decade in terms of average growth rates.
•  In individual years, the growth for the country fluctuated from a trough of 1.3 per cent in 1991-92 to a high of 7.8 per cent in 1996-97. The maximum variation in growth rates among the States was in Gujarat. Here, the growth rate fluctuated from (-) 6.5 per cent in 1991-92 to 28 per cent in the following year. Incidentally, most of the States had experienced steep dips in growth rates in 1991-92.
• In individual years, the maximum number of States doing better than the all-India growth was in 1991-92, when the growth for the country was only 1.3 per cent. In this year, 10 out of 17 States performed better than the all-India average. Karnataka, Punjab, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh recorded sharp improvement in their growth rates. On the other hand, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan recorded declines in GDP during the year.
• Only 2 States did better than the all-India performance of 7.3 per cent in 1995-96, while 15 States recorded below all-India growth rate. These States were Maharashtra (11.5 per cent) and West Bengal (7.4 per cent). This looks queer, as these two States could not have by themselves boosted the GDP growth for the country. Obviously, some States must have performed better than what the relevant statistics reveal. Or, the overall growth of 7.3 per cent for the country could be an overestimate.
• Interestingly, for the preceding year 1994-95, for a similar growth experience of 7.3 per cent for the country, 8 States had performed better than the all-India average. Between 1994-95 and the subsequent year, only Maharashtra vastly improved its growth rate from 2.6 per cent to 11.5 per cent. Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu reported sharp deterioration in growth rates between these two years.
• Among the States, Jammu & Kashmir was relatively the most consistent performer with its growth rates ranging between 3.1 per cent in 1991-92 to 6.3 per cent in 1999-00. The average growth for the State was 5 per cent.

To see : Annual Growth Rates (%) of GDP by State:1990-91 to 1999-00 , Click here

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