Publication: India - Accelerating Growth and Development in the Lagging Regions of India
Loading...
Published
2008-02
ISSN
Date
2012-06-13
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Although the Indian economy has been growing at a stellar rate of about 6 percent per annum since the mid-1980s, this achievement has been clouded by growing inequality and divergence in development outcomes among India's different regions. This study, thus, identifies a regional development strategy built around policies that are good for both the development of the Low Income States (LIS) and for India's overall development. That is, these policies are more in the nature of win-win rather than trade-offs between regional and national development. They focus on and address key issues: adverse neighbourhood effects; the comparative advantages of the LIS in agriculture and small town, agro-based, labor intensive industries; support for relatively inexpensive 'local or rural' infrastructure; critical human and social development that addresses exclusion, and; targeted investments of public expenditures alongside a build-up of capacity. These choices focus on core necessities rather than trade-offs between national and regional development. Further, they aim to achieve greater equity in welfare for the population of different regions rather than equality of economic activity in all regions. The rest of this summary discusses these findings in more detail. The next section, section B, presents the stylized facts about the lagging states; and finally, section C summarizes the findings on the constraints they face in raising growth and development.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2008. India - Accelerating Growth and Development in the Lagging Regions of India. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7951 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Republic of India : Accelerating Agricultural Productivity Growth(Washington, DC, 2014-05-21)In the past 50 years, Indian agriculture has undergone a major transformation, from dependence on food aid to becoming a consistent net food exporter. The gradual reforms in the agricultural sector (following the broader macro-reforms of the early 1990s) spurred some unprecedented innovations and changes in the food sector driven by private investment. These impressive achievements must now be viewed in light of the policy and investment imperatives that lie ahead. Agricultural growth has improved in recent years (averaging about 3.5 percent since 2004-05), but at a long-term trend rate of growth of 3 percent, agriculture has underperformed relative to its potential. The pockets of post-reform dynamism that have emerged evidently have not reached a sufficiently large scale to influence the sector's performance. For the vast population that still derives a living directly or indirectly from agriculture, achieving "faster, more inclusive, and sustainable growth', the objectives at the heart of the Twelfth five year plan, depends critically on simultaneous efforts to improve agriculture's performance and develop new sources of employment for the disproportionately large share of the labor force still on the farm. The scope of this study is broad in the sense that it marshals considerable empirical evidence and analyses to address those issues. Yet the scope is restricted in the sense that the study does not address all of the issues. A wealth of knowledge exists (and continuing analytical work proceeds) on other major strategic issues, water and irrigation management, food grain management, and public expenditures on agriculture, for example, and the findings of this study must be seen in that context. The lack of sufficient quality data, and often the lack of access to such data, also prevents some issues from being explored in greater depth. Finally, some important issues require more focused and dedicated analysis, such as food safety and quality standards, agricultural trade, and food price increases. This relationship between longer-term strategic issues and contemporary concerns, such as water resource management and food prices, are highlighted in this study through the prism of productivity, but they too require further analysis to fully address the underlying issues.Publication Republic of India : Accelerating Agricultural Productivity Growth(Washington, DC, 2014-05-21)In the past 50 years, Indian agriculture has undergone a major transformation, from dependence on food aid to becoming a consistent net food exporter. The gradual reforms in the agricultural sector (following the broader macro-reforms of the early 1990s) spurred some unprecedented innovations and changes in the food sector driven by private investment. These impressive achievements must now be viewed in light of the policy and investment imperatives that lie ahead. Agricultural growth has improved in recent years (averaging about 3.5 percent since 2004-05), but at a long-term trend rate of growth of 3 percent, agriculture has underperformed relative to its potential. The pockets of post-reform dynamism that have emerged evidently have not reached a sufficiently large scale to influence the sector's performance. For the vast population that still derives a living directly or indirectly from agriculture, achieving "faster, more inclusive, and sustainable growth', the objectives at the heart of the Twelfth five year plan, depends critically on simultaneous efforts to improve agriculture's performance and develop new sources of employment for the disproportionately large share of the labor force still on the farm. The scope of this study is broad in the sense that it marshals considerable empirical evidence and analyses to address those issues. Yet the scope is restricted in the sense that the study does not address all of the issues. A wealth of knowledge exists (and continuing analytical work proceeds) on other major strategic issues, water and irrigation management, food grain management, and public expenditures on agriculture, for example, and the findings of this study must be seen in that context. The lack of sufficient quality data, and often the lack of access to such data, also prevents some issues from being explored in greater depth. Finally, some important issues require more focused and dedicated analysis, such as food safety and quality standards, agricultural trade, and food price increases. This relationship between longer-term strategic issues and contemporary concerns, such as water resource management and food prices, are highlighted in this study through the prism of productivity, but they too require further analysis to fully address the underlying issues.Publication Routes to the Northeast: Productivity, Jobs, and Inclusion - The Path to Accelerating National Growth Through Regional Engines(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-12-05)The Northeast of Brazil is a potential-rich region, though it still has the lowest income levels and highest poverty rate in the country. The process of economic and social convergence with other Brazilian regions has slowed down in recent years. Recent growth has been driven by agriculture, even in a semi-arid and predominantly urban context, limiting employment opportunities for the largely urban population. Northeastern firms, less productive than the national average, are shrinking despite tax and credit subsidies. Lagging infrastructure also contributes to slow growth. While human capital has made progress, challenges remain in turning these improvements into better jobs and incomes. The report suggests policies to accelerate convergence, such as enhancing the skills and mobility of the workforce, reducing reliance on inefficient subsidies, and encouraging productivity, innovation, and a more enabling business environment. Also, there is a need to rethink financing and management of infrastructure to sustain development. In summary, the Northeast needs to adopt strategies that promote inclusive growth, increase business competitiveness and improve quality of life, taking advantage of its potential to boost national development.Publication India : Reducing Poverty, Accelerating Development(New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000)Reducing poverty, and providing for minimum needs, is the ultimate yardstick against which to measure development. To this end, the study outlines India's growth rate, improved social indicators, and poverty reduction since the 1970s, but specifies that, despite this progress, poverty is a serious concern, where social indicators remain below comparator countries. Human development is examined, focusing on social indicators, stating the delivery of health and education is fraught with limited accountability for performance and with low management capacity. Governance is critical to development, but the country's inadequate and adverse factors hinder the development of public administration, instead, performance incentives, and accountability within a downsized civil service, effective financial management, and decentralization should be pursued. Infrastructure should attract private investments, but the perverse impact of subsidies preclude the provision of private services. However, regulatory agencies are imperfect alternatives to competition, but corporatization would be an essential step in attracting the private sector. The study further reviews deregulation to increase trade growth and improve labor market flexibility. Conclusions call for reforms, arguing it would lead to higher growth, favorable balance of payments, and further capital inflows, including foreign direct investments.Publication India : Policies to Reduce Poverty and Accelerate Sustainable Development(Washington, DC, 2000-01-31)This report is a pilot in the Bank's new approach to country economic reports, embodying the Comprehensive Development Framework. It begins with a chapter on reducing poverty, followed by a chapter on human development. Chapter 3 focuses on the Indian states, which are key actors in human development and infrastructure provision, as well as regulation and governance. Chapter 4 deals with governance issues, a major concern of the Bank because of its links to poverty reduction and development. The next three chapters deal with ways to increase growth and its poverty reducing content through improvements in a) infrastructure, b) the incentive and regulatory framework to encourage efficiency and labor demand, and c) the financial system and corporate governance. Chapter 8 deals with recent developments, the sustainability of growth and ways to reduce vulnerability to macroeconomic crises that hurt the poor. Finally, Chapter 9 provides a brief forecast of India's prospects and summarizes policies that would accelerate poverty reduction and sustained development. Gaps in the knowledge base and in country experience have been identified as issues deserving further analysis and research. The most important ones include: improving the delivery of social services to the poor; the links between growth, poverty reduction, and governance; and the nature, causes, and cures of urban poverty.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication The Container Port Performance Index 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-07-18)The Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) measures the time container ships spend in port, making it an important point of reference for stakeholders in the global economy. These stakeholders include port authorities and operators, national governments, supranational organizations, development agencies, and other public and private players in trade and logistics. The index highlights where vessel time in container ports could be improved. Streamlining these processes would benefit all parties involved, including shipping lines, national governments, and consumers. This fourth edition of the CPPI relies on data from 405 container ports with at least 24 container ship port calls in the calendar year 2023. As in earlier editions of the CPPI, the ranking employs two different methodological approaches: an administrative (technical) approach and a statistical approach (using matrix factorization). Combining these two approaches ensures that the overall ranking of container ports reflects actual port performance as closely as possible while also being statistically robust. The CPPI methodology assesses the sequential steps of a container ship port call. ‘Total port hours’ refers to the total time elapsed from the moment a ship arrives at the port until the vessel leaves the berth after completing its cargo operations. The CPPI uses time as an indicator because time is very important to shipping lines, ports, and the entire logistics chain. However, time, as captured by the CPPI, is not the only way to measure port efficiency, so it does not tell the entire story of a port’s performance. Factors that can influence the time vessels spend in ports can be location-specific and under the port’s control (endogenous) or external and beyond the control of the port (exogenous). The CPPI measures time spent in container ports, strictly based on quantitative data only, which do not reveal the underlying factors or root causes of extended port times. A detailed port-specific diagnostic would be required to assess the contribution of underlying factors to the time a vessel spends in port. A very low ranking or a significant change in ranking may warrant special attention, for which the World Bank generally recommends a detailed diagnostic.Publication Multidimensional Poverty in Malaysia(World Bank, Kuala Lumpur, 2021-10)It has long been recognized that poverty is multidimensional, comprising not only insufficient income but also deprivations in access to basic services, the quality of living conditions, personal security, and other aspects of well-being. Since 2010 there has been rapid growth in the development and use of quantitative measures of multidimensional poverty. This paper analyzes the construction and use of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) in Malaysia, which the Malaysian government introduced in its national development plan for 2015–2020. It examines avenues for improving the relevance of the MPI in policy discourse by setting deprivation thresholds of the various MPI dimensions (health, education, living conditions, income) at levels more appropriate for an upper-middle-income country such as Malaysia. Recent national survey data are used to estimate the quantitative impact of incrementally adjusting the thresholds of indicators in the current MPI. The potential for new indicators is also explored, drawing from the MPIs used in other middle- and high-income countries. The role of the MPI for informing and monitoring anti-poverty policies is discussed, focusing on unpacking the dimensions of poverty embedded in the MPI, so that policies are better matched to the deprivations observed.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-15)The Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2024 is the latest edition of the series formerly known as Poverty and Shared Prosperity. The report emphasizes that reducing poverty and increasing shared prosperity must be achieved in ways that do not come at unacceptably high costs to the environment. The current “polycrisis”—where the multiple crises of slow economic growth, increased fragility, climate risks, and heightened uncertainty have come together at the same time—makes national development strategies and international cooperation difficult. Offering the first post-Coronavirus (COVID)-19 pandemic assessment of global progress on this interlinked agenda, the report finds that global poverty reduction has resumed but at a pace slower than before the COVID-19 crisis. Nearly 700 million people worldwide live in extreme poverty with less than US$2.15 per person per day. Progress has essentially plateaued amid lower economic growth and the impacts of COVID-19 and other crises. Today, extreme poverty is concentrated mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa and fragile settings. At a higher standard more typical of upper-middle-income countries—US$6.85 per person per day—almost one-half of the world is living in poverty. The report also provides evidence that the number of countries that have high levels of income inequality has declined considerably during the past two decades, but the pace of improvements in shared prosperity has slowed, and that inequality remains high in Latin America and the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa. Worldwide, people’s incomes today would need to increase fivefold on average to reach a minimum prosperity threshold of US$25 per person per day. Where there has been progress in poverty reduction and shared prosperity, there is evidence of an increasing ability of countries to manage natural hazards, but climate risks are significantly higher in the poorest settings. Nearly one in five people globally is at risk of experiencing welfare losses due to an extreme weather event from which they will struggle to recover. The interconnected issues of climate change and poverty call for a united and inclusive effort from the global community. Development cooperation stakeholders—from governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to communities and citizens acting locally in every corner of the globe—hold pivotal roles in promoting fair and sustainable transitions. By emphasizing strategies that yield multiple benefits and diligently monitoring and addressing trade-offs, we can strive toward a future that is prosperous, equitable, and resilient.Publication Achieving Gender Equality in Education(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-11-10)The World Bank is the largest external financier of education worldwide. This note examines trends in girls’ education and spotlights interventions that support girls’ education. Key takeaways include the following: It is simply not enough to get girls into school. Efforts must ensure they stay in school, learn well, and are able to translate their schooling into future gains. Programs that focus on getting girls into school through scholarships, cash transfers, and stipends improve girls’ enrollment outcomes. Interventions that address additional challenges that girls face while in school, such as improving conditions for menstrual health and hygiene and reducing gender-based violence (GBV), make girls feel safe and included in schools. Teaching and learning-focused programs for girls, such as combating stereotypical gender norms in pedagogy, textbooks, and curriculum, help reduce gender-bias in schools and empower them to reach their full potential. It is important to strengthen the role of schools for adolescent girls’ empowerment and for shifting mindsets and norms by engaging girls and boys on issues pertaining to gender equality including on GBV, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), and women’s economic participation.