India is a country of large pay inequity where some states are highly affluent while others languish in poverty. The twenty most affluent states in India according to the tally of the Gross State Domestic Products (GSDP) will be described in this article.
The GSDP shows the total income of a state resulting from production of goods and services within its geographical territory. Hence, it is a vital measure of how any given state is economically endowed and how it is developing.
Here are the top 20 richest state in India, ranked by GSDP:
- Maharashtra
Maharashtra is right at the top in the list of Top 20 richest states in India, boasting of GSDP of over 400 billion dollars. The state has Mumbai, the financial capital of India, and is one of the foremost industrial, financial and commercial states.
- Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu ranks second in the richest Indian state with GSDP, which is more than $300 billion. It is understood that the state has a well-developed industrial background especially automobile and information technology fields. It is one of the top 20 richest state in India.
- Gujarat
Gujarat is the third richest state in India in terms of GSDP which is over $ 280 bn. It is an important industrial state emphasizing on manufacturing, chemicals and textiles.
- Karnataka
Karnataka occupies the fourth place in terms of state economy with overall GSDP of over Two Hundred and Ninety Billion US$. The state is famous for the IT industry and this particular sector is mostly developed in Bengaluru also known as the silicon Valley of India.
- Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh is the fifth richest state of India in terms of Gross State Domestic Product GSDP, which is more than $280 billion. The state is one of the most populous states of India and is also prominent on the agricultural map of the country.
- Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh sits sixth in the list of the richest states in India and has a GSDP of more than $180 billion. The state has IT industry and it houses the main IT hub of Hyderabad.
- Telangana
Telangana is the seventh wealthiest state in the Republic of India with a GSDP of more than $160 billion. It is also a popular state for IT industry located in Hyderabad.
- West Bengal
West Bengal is only eighth richest state in terms of its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) that exceeds $150 billion. The state is famous for its jute industry, tea gardens and tourism industry.
- Rajasthan
Rajasthan is the ninth richest state with GSDP more than 130 billion US Dollars. The state is an industrialized state in terms of the tourist industry; the mining industry and the textile industry.
- Madhya Pradesh
Out of all the states in India Madhya Pradesh is the tenth richest state the GSDP of which is nearly $ 120 billion. About the state besides it being famous for its productive agricultural land and gold mining, it also famous for its tourism sector.
- Kerala
Kerala is ranked as the eleventh richest state of India in terms of its GSDP exceeding $110 billion. It is also famous for tourism industry, spice industry and trade in fish and other sea foods.
- Haryana
Haryana is the twelfth richest state in India with a gross state domestic product exceeding $100 billion.. The state is popular for agriculture products, automobile industries and Information technology industries.
- Bihar
Bihar is the thirteenth richest state in India, with a GSDP of more than ninety billion US Dollars. It is also supporting agriculture, textile industry and most importantly, the tourism industry.
- Punjab
According to the latest reports, Punjab sits fourteen on the list of richest states in India with a GSDP surpassing $80 billion. It is one of the most agricultural, dairy and textile producing state in India.
- Odisha
It is the fifteenth wealthiest state in India with GSDP more than 70 billion dollar. The state is famous for mining sector, steel sector and tourism sector.
- Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh is the tenth smallest state in terms of area in the map of India. The ‘rice bowl’ of India, Chhattisgarh was born out of the map of Madhya Pradesh in the year 2000. Tertiary sector is the leading sector in the generation of state’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). The state has many mineral based industries. One of the electricity surplus states it sales electricity to other states. Over 80% of people rely on agriculture.
- Jharkhand
Jharkhand came on to the map in the year 2000 when a new state was formed from the southern part of Bihar. As earlier pointed out the state occupies 385, 562 square kilometer of land with forest forming about one and half or nearly 30per cent of the total land area. The manufacturing and service industries are the source of the state’s revenues. The mineral rich state has experienced very high level of industrialisation within the state. Thus it has 32 per cent of India’s coal reserves. It is one of top 20 richest state in India.
- Assam
Among the northeast region of India, Assam is the largest state. It is renowned today as a tea country, oil fields and bio-diversity and also has great reserves of bamboo and timber. Agriculture is the major occupation in Assam. Assam is one of the top 20 richest state in India.
- Uttarakhand
One of the most attractive states of India it was created from the part of Uttar Pradesh in November, 2000. About 45.12% of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is generated from the services sector. Tourism has become one major means through which the economies are boosted. The state possesses a favourable landscape for hydropower development given presence of many rivers.
- Himachal Pradesh
The resource position of Himachal Pradesh is agricultural and hydroelectric resources. The agriculture forms more than one third of the net state domestic product. The assessed level of hydro electric power in the state is approximately 20300 MW. It is again a record for Himachal because it has become the first state in India to complete the target of having at least one bank account in every family.
