Kerala economy made tremendous growth post-pandemic: review

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Economic Review (KER) 2022, presented in the state assembly on Thursday, claimed that Kerala’s economy made a strong recovery in the last fiscal. The gross domestic product (GDP) at constant prices recorded a stellar growth of 12.01 per cent while it was -8.43 per cent in 2020-21, The Indian Express reported.

The KER said that this is the highest growth since 2012-13. It added that the mentioned growth is when the national economy grew only recorded 8.7 per cent in 2021-22.

KER said that agriculture and related sectors registered a credible growth of 4.64 per cent compared to 0.24 per cent in 2020-21. Industry sector growth increased to reach 3.87 from -2.82 per cent.

Service sectors registered a strong growth of 17.3 per cent against -14.44 per cent in the previous review.

Despite crises, Kerala had recorded tremendous growth across sectors from 2016-17 to 2018-19, but the Covid-19 pandemic destabilised the economy. However, the situation is improving now, the KER inferred.

It further said that the state is among the top states in the country, with a higher per-capita Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Rs 1,62,992 in 2021-22, while the national average was Rs 1,07,670. In India, it is Kerala, Haryana, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Gujarat are states at the top in income per capita.

Regarding the economy and workforce participation, Kerala employed 46.5 per cent of India’s total workforce in agriculture and related activities in 2020-21, which is a decline of 22.56 per cent of total workforce participation in the sector.

But construction and services sectors contribute well to Kerala’s economy than the rest of India, with 14.43 per cent and 7.65 per cent, respectively, in Kerala and India, TIE reported.