Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur released “District Domestic Product (District Income) of Himachal Pradesh” 2011-12 to 2015-16 with base 2011-12 brought out by the Department of Economic and Statistics, here today. While appreciating the efforts of the department, the Chief Minister said that District Domestic Product was the key indicator of human development and living standards of people. Himachal Pradesh has emerged as a leading economy in the country and was also a leader in hill area development, agriculture and horticulture revolution. The state was an ideal destination for investment in power and tourism sector. He said that responsive administration and conducive macro-economic conditions have induced a competitive environment in the economy and has lead to a robust economic performance in the state.Jai Ram Thakur said that State income was the single most common and comprehensive economic indicator used to measure the economic health. State's income increased from Rs. 14112 crore in 1999-2000 to Rs. 109440 crore in 2017-18 at constant prices and to Rs 135914 crore in 2017-18 at current prices. The per capita income at current prices increased from Rs. 20806 In 1999-2000 to Rs. 158462 in 2017-18, he added.
The Chief Minister said that Primary Sector contributed 71.01 percent of the SDP in 1950-51, which declined to 15.39 percent in 2017-18 and the contribution of secondary sector has increased to 40.09 percent. The tertiary sector contributed merely 19.19 percent in 1950-51 which has now increased to 44.52 percent in 2017-18, he added.He said that the economic position and level of development in all districts of Himachal Pradesh was not the same. The contribution of four districts of the state to GSDP was more than 62 per cent during 2015-16. Solan district which has a strong industrial base has the highest domestic product contributing about 24.67% followed by Kangra district having 13.76% , Shimla (13.74%) and Mandi (10.15%) though these districts together had only 30 per cent of the total area of the State.
He said that per capita income and growth in per capita income was another major indicator of economic well being. As regards the district wise per capita income for the year 2015-16 concerned the Solan district has the highest per capita income of Rs. 3,94,102 whereas Kinnaur Rs. 2,17,993 and Lahaul-Spiti Rs. 1,19,231 rank second and third in per capita income. Kangra district which ranked second in contribution to District Domestic Product was placed at the last place in per capita income of Rs. 86,637 because the per capita income is the proportion of net district product to the population, he added.Additional Chief Secretary cum Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Dr. Shrikant Baldi, Economic Advisor, Economics, Statistics Department Pradeep Chauhan and other senior officers were present on the occasion.