Overview
- RBI Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta, who spoke at Columbia University on Monday, said India’s high‑income goal depends on states building growth plans around their own strengths.
- She projected that the average state per capita income could near high‑income thresholds by 2046–47 if the past two decades’ growth trends continue.
- Gupta said the gap between richer and poorer states has narrowed and welfare indicators such as literacy, sanitation, health and financial inclusion are converging, citing gains in Odisha, Assam and Uttar Pradesh.
- She warned that core engines of growth still diverge across states, including industrial productivity, capital formation, foreign investment, bank credit and the pace of moving workers out of agriculture.
- Her roadmap calls for richer states to push innovation and planned urban growth while poorer states lift farm productivity and skills, with states using levers over land, labor, schools and health care to strengthen their finances and business climate.