Himachal Pradesh's economic growth is expected to be 6.3 per cent this fiscal and its per capita income is estimated at Rs 158,462, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Thursday.
The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at current prices in 2016-17 increased to Rs 124,236 crore from Rs 113,355 crore in 2015-16 and as per advance estimates it is likely to be about Rs 133,914 crore in this fiscal, he said, citing the state's Economic Survey 2017-18.
The growth rate of the state in the last three years has been below the national growth rate.
Himachal Pradesh's economy is highly dependent on hydroelectricity, horticulture and tourism.
The Economic Survey report was tabled in the assembly by Thakur, who also holds the Finance portfolio, a day before the presentation of the state Budget.
The total revenue of Rs 4,613.15 crore has been mobilised till December last year with state's Credit Deposit Ratio is 44.60.
The overall production of fruit is likely to decline in this fiscal. The state is the country's fruit basket.
Fruit production was five lakh tonnes in 2017-18 (till December 2017) against 6.12 lakh tonnes in 2016-17.
Apple constitutes about 85 per cent of total fruit production.
During 2017-18, 4.28 lakh tonnes of apples were produced against 4.68 lakh tonnes in 2016-17. Likewise, there was decline in foodgrain production.
In 2016-17, the anticipated foodgrain production was 17.45 lakh tonne against the achieved production of 16.34 lakh tonne in 2015-16, thus registering an increase of 6.8 per cent.
For this fiscal, the target is 16.45 lakh tonne.
There are 622 medium and large-scale industries and about 45,597 small-scale industries presently working in the state.
The state's hydroelectricity generation potential is 27,436 MW -- about 25 per cent of India's total potential in the sector.
However, only 10,519 MW has been harnessed till December 2016, which is 37.73 per cent of the total potential.
The state has attracted 196.02 lakh tourists last year, 2.9 times of its population, said the report, adding that it has 63 operational helipads.
--IANS
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