The State Economic Survey (2020-21) presented in the Assembly on Friday said Maharashtra’s nominal Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is expected to decrease by ₹1,56,925 crore during 2020-21 as compared with 2019-20. The report cited the novel coronavirus pandemic for the slowdown.
“Advance Estimates of 2020-21 should be read and interpreted keeping in view the extraordinary situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The complete lockdown and then the step by step removal of these restrictions has impacted economic activities and the availability of data,” the report said.
The report said among the three major sectors of the economy, only ‘agriculture and allied activities’ contributed positively to Gross State Value Added (GSVA) in 2020-21. The government’s timely and proactive measures ensured that the sector was least impacted by the pandemic. “Due to overall increase in estimated agricultural production, the real GSVA of the ‘crops’ sector is expected to grow by 16.2%. ‘livestock’, ‘forestry & logging’ and ‘fisheries & aquaculture’ sectors are expected to grow at 4.4%, 5.7% and 2.6% respectively,” the report said.
The ‘manufacturing’ and ‘construction’ sectors were the hardest hit and are expected to grow at (-)11.8% and (-)14.6% respectively, due to which the ‘industry’ sector’s growth is expected to be (-)11.3%. Due to the pandemic’s impact on trade, repairs, hotels and restaurants and transport sectors, the ‘services’ sector is expected to grow at (-)9.0%.
