Foodgrain stocks swell, industrial growth down

Mumbai, March 22: The state economic survey for 1998-99, tabled in both Houses of the state legislature today, presents a mixed picture: ...

Mumbai, March 22: The state economic survey for 1998-99, tabled in both Houses of the state legislature today, presents a mixed picture: higher foodgrain production than last year but lower gross domestic product (GDP) growth than in earlier years. Also, industrial production is expected to increase only by 4.6 per cent against the impressive 7.7 per cent last year.

On prices, both in urban and rural areas, the survey only confirms what is common knowledge about unbridled price increase. The consumer price index reveals that the average index between April 1998 and January 1999 was higher than that of the corresponding period last year by 14.7 per cent in urban areas and 15.3 per cent in the rural areas. The rate of increase in prices was also substantially higher this year.

The GDP is marginally higher at 5.8 per cent from the five per cent previous year but a significant dip from the level of 7.8 per cent achieved in 1996-97. However, the good news is on the foodgrain production front — nearly 21 percent increase over the previous year to fill the state’s granaries to 116.8 lakh tonnes this year. But the recovery in foodgrain production this year is relative in that 1997-98 was a particularly bad agricultural season in the state.

The number of people on the live registers of employment exchanges went up as did the number of new registrations in the exchanges across the state. A whopping 4.1 million people were on the live registers this year while nearly seven lakh people registered for the first time showing an increase of 6.2 per cent in new registrations. However, the number of vacancies notified during April to December 1998 were a mere 31,000 against the 38,000 in the corresponding period last year.

On the controversial cotton procurement scheme, the survey shows that the state was able to procure less than last year — barely 88 lakh quintals at Rs 1694 crore as against nearly 150 lakh quintals at Rs 2917 crore last year. On the Krishna Valley Development Corporation, the survey states that theCorporation was able to spend marginally more than what it did last year Rs 1653 crore against Rs 1398 crore last year.

Interestingly, the number of cooperatives societies registered in the state at the end of financial year 1998 was about three per cent higher than the previous year. As on March 31, 1998, the number of such societies stood at 140,858 across the state.