Bihar is India’s fastest growing State with its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growing at 15.05 per cent during 2012-13, the latest data released by the Central Statistics Office shows. It is also the only State to clock a double-digit growth rate. Bihar’s spectacular performance assumes significance given Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s declaration on Thursday that he is better suited than anyone else to be the Prime Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi’s repeated trumpeting of Gujarat’s economic growth.
According to the CSO data, Gujarat grew at 7.96 per cent, ranked sixth, behind Bihar, Madhya Pradesh (9.89 per cent), Goa (8.47 per cent), Kerala (8.24 per cent) and Odisha (8.09 per cent). The all-India economic growth in 2012-13 was 4.47 per cent.
During Mr. Kumar’s tenure, Bihar’s average growth rate has been 11 per cent as compared to Gujarat's 9 per cent. “All these people who are roaming around, am I any less in comparison? I am more qualified than them,” Mr. Kumar said on Thursday in Bettiah, West Champaran.