UP to engage consultant to draw blueprint to reach $1-tn GSDP in 5 years

To boost the gross state domestic product (GSDP) to USD 1 trillion in five years, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to engage a consultant to prepare a roadmap. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state and plays a critical role on the road to India becoming USD 5 trillion dollar economy.

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to engage consultant to prepare a roadmap to boost the gross state domestic product (GSDP) to USD 1 trillion in five years.

A 41-page RFP (request for proposal) document for selection of consultant, accessed by a news agency, said, "This herculean task demands some giant steps to be taken by the state government to move forward. It needs some well thought out and long-term strategies on a sustained basis. This would also require organisational restructuring, focussed policies and rules for more effective governance, faster decision-making process and improved accountability".

Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state and plays a critical role on the road to India becoming USD 5 trillion dollar economy.

"The state contributes eight per cent of the national GDP. Aligning the state with the national target, the UP Chief Minister is keen to play a leading role. He has set up a target of making Uttar Pradesh a one trillion dollar economy in the same period. It will require raising the current growth rate substantially and would necessitate a significant increase in the investment rate, besides improvement in basic infrastructure," a senior UP government official told a news agency.

The state has already embarked upon the journey of growth and prosperity, he added.

"Resultantly, in 2018-19, the GSDP has already touched Rs 15.80 lakh crore (US dollar 230 billion) with a rich growth rate of 7 percent over the previous year. However, it would be a challenging task to boost up the size of the GSDP size by nearly five times to reach the target of One Trillion-Dollar in five years (2020-25), discounting for the dollar fluctuations and global trends. It enhances the challenge and would require sustained and aggressive efforts at the state level," the RFP said.

The consultant has to develop strategic framework, create implementation roadmap, design institutional reforms, and develop monitoring, learning and evaluation framework, the document said.

In July 2019, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the path to achieve the country's target of being a USD 5-trillion economy passes through Uttar Pradesh.

He expressed confidence that the state will contribute to it by becoming a USD 1-trillion economy.

PTI REPORT