Uttarakhand witnesses 50% more GSDP growth, reduced poverty with 8.2% annual growth projected

Uttarakhand has witnessed more than 50 per cent rise in GSDP growth as its annual growth rate is projected to be more than 8 per cent while poverty in the Himalayan state is down by 2.8 per cent in the last four four years. The annual growth projected for the state in 2026-27 will be 8.2 per cent.

Principal Secretary, Planning and Power, R Meenakshi Sundaram informed on Thursday that the Economic Survey Report, prepared in association with the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), revealed that the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Uttarakhand surged by nearly 54 per cent from ₹2.54 lakh crore in 2021-22 to around ₹3.90 crore in 2024-25.

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Sundaram said that the Report unveiled that poverty in the state has come down from 9.7 to 6.92 per cent by nearly 2.8 per cent in the same period. This, according to Sundar, was indicated in the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) of the survey report statistics.

Among other key social indicators, as shared by Sundaram, claimed that the state’s annual growth rate in the financial 2024-25 was around 7.23 per cent and is projected to continue with an increased pace of 8.2 per cent in the financial year 2026-27.

The Report further revealed that the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in the state Increased from nearly 60 per cent to 64 percent exhibiting more than four percent rise in employment growth. Human Development Index (HDI) improved in the same period from 0.718 in 2021-22 to 0.722 in 2024-25.

The state also underwent substantial Industrial Expansion and growth in startups in the last four years as claimed in the report. Sundaram stated that MSME units in the state grew from 59,798 to 79,394, with employment rising in this sector from 3.43 lakh to 4.56 lakh. Large Industrial units, on the other hand, grew from 107 to 128. The Sstate witnessed a great leap in the startups from zero units in 2017-18 to 1,750 in 2025-26.

According to the principal secretary, planning & infrastructure, connectivity growth too was remarkable in the state between 2021-22 to 2024-25. The network of roads expanded to 51,278 kilometers while the number of heliports increased from two to seven and the strength of helipads almost doubled from 60 to 118 in the last four years.

In the school education and skill development index, dropout rates in the primary school fell to 1.4 per cent, while the secondary school dropouts saw a sharp decline from 7.65 percent to 4.59 percent. In the higher education sector, degree colleges increased to 139 and engineering colleges both government and private grew from 20 to 52.

In health and sanitation, Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has come down from 22 to 20 in the last four years while Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) improved from 103 to 91.

It’s notable that the joint economic survey report by the Centre is likely to be unveiled in the coming budget session of the state assembly at gaistain starting from March 9.