Covid pandemic-induced income blues not yet over for seven states/UTs

Residents of six states and a Union Territory (UT) are yet to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic-induced income shock, data compiled by the National Statistical Office for 21 states and UTs for FY22 showed.

States like Uttar Pradesh (-6.08 per cent), Kerala (-3.9 per cent), Meghalaya (-1.8 per cent), Uttarakhand (-1.52 per cent), Jharkhand (-0.9 per cent), and Punjab (-0.12 per cent); and the UT of Puducherry (-2.62 per cent) saw further decline in their per capita income in FY22 compared to the pre-pandemic year of FY20. The data for the per capita income of 13 states and UTs, including Gujarat and Maharashtra, were not available for FY22.

However, residents of 14 states saw their per capita income exceed the pre-Covid levels in FY22, with Andhra Pradesh (9.74 per cent) leading the chart, followed by Bihar (9.4 per cent), Karnataka (7.8 per cent), and Tamil Nadu (6.6 per cent). Other such states include Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, Jammu & Kashmir, and Delhi.

Among the states, Sikkim has the highest per capita income in FY22 (Rs 2.56 lakh) followed by Haryana (Rs 1.79 lakh) and Karnataka (Rs 1.68 lakh), whereas Delhi leads the chart among the UTs (Rs 2.63 lakh) in FY22. Bihar continues to have the lowest per capita income (Rs 30,779) followed by Uttar Pradesh (Rs 40,432).

Except West Bengal and Manipur, the per capita income of the 32 states and UTs, for which data is available, had declined during FY21 when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown in view of the Covid-19 outbreak.

According to the data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, nearly 78 million jobs were lost during the quarter of June 2020 which coincided with the first wave of Covid-19. Similarly, 13 million jobs were lost during the second wave of the pandemic in the June quarter of 2021.

In FY22, seven states, led by Andhra Pradesh (11.43 per cent), saw double-digit growth in gross state domestic production (GSDP), followed by Rajasthan (11.04 per cent), Bihar (10.98 per cent), Telangana (10.88 per cent), Delhi (10.23 per cent), Odisha (10.19 per cent), and Madhya Pradesh (10.12 per cent). The Indian economy grew at 8.7 per cent in FY22 after contracting 6.6 per cent in FY21.

N R Bhanumurthy, vice-chancellor of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar School of Economics University, said states that were heavily dependent upon the tourism sector had been particularly hit by Covid. “This means that it will take time for states like Kerala and Puducherry to recover their lost incomes and cross the pre-pandemic per capita income levels. Although, It’s surprising that Uttar Pradesh still lags in terms of its per capita income. This only shows that the large troves of migrant workers that returned home haven’t still been able to find a stable and remunerative livelihood,” he said.

Another economist under the condition of anonymity said Uttar Pradesh would take more time to cross the pre-pandemic levels because the informal MSMEs constitute a large part of its economy. “Kerala still continues to lag because of the fall in remittance income and the badly affected services sector. Punjab is still behind because the agriculture sector is facing the double brunt of rise in input costs and low realisation of prices,” he said.

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