PATNA: Bihar faces a peculiar situation as it recorded a higher growth rate than the national average, but its per capita income remains at the bottom.
Bihar Finance Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav on Monday contended that the state recorded a 13.1 percent growth in the 2024-25 financial year against the “national average of 9.8 percent.”
According to the Bihar Economic Survey for 2025-26, presented by Yadav in the Assembly on the first day of the budget session, Bihar’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has consistently outpaced the country’s GDP growth, both at current and constant prices, over the past three years.
Bihar’s GSDP growth rates reached 17.9 percent in 2022-23 and 14.9 percent in 2023-24, compared to the national growth rates of 14 percent and 12 percent, respectively, at current prices. As per the quick estimates for 2024-25, Bihar’s GSDP (current prices) growth is estimated at 13.1 percent, while the country’s GDP growth is at 9.8 percent.
At constant (2011-12) prices, Bihar’s economy is estimated to have achieved 8.6 percent growth in 2024-25, exceeding India’s 6.5 percent. These figures place Bihar among the fastest-growing states in India, the Economic Survey added.
Despite these encouraging figures, the Economic Survey of India, presented in the Lok Sabha, put Bihar at the bottom of the list as the poorest state in the country in terms of annual per capita income. The average annual income of a person is reported to be a little over Rs 70,000.
The minister said that the state was progressing along a “high-growth trajectory,” supported by “macroeconomic stability, sectoral diversification, increased investment, and a sustained focus on human capital development, employment generation, and infrastructure enhancement.”
Bihar's fiscal trajectory demonstrates “disciplined financial management,” with the total expenditure by the state government increasing from Rs 1.66 lakh crore in 2020-21 to Rs 2.82 lakh crore in 2024-25.
The state government has also consistently prioritised outlay in sectors such as education, health, energy, transport, irrigation, and agriculture, while maintaining fiscal prudence through moderate borrowing and effective debt servicing, he added.
The proportion of capital expenditure in the total outlay by the state government rose significantly from 15.8 percent in 2020-21 to 22.3 percent in 2024-25, the minister said. Meanwhile, the share of revenue expenditure declined from 84.2 percent to 77.7 percent.
“The trend reflects a gradual shift towards welfare initiatives and policy-driven development priorities,” Finance Minister Yadav remarked.