New Delhi, Feb 16 (KNN) Following the steps of the state to make Uttar Pradesh USD 1 trillion economy, a round table was recently held in New Delhi comprising of stakeholders, economists and experts to discuss quadrupling the GDP of Meerut district by 2027.

A first of its kind exercise has been undertaken by Meerut Citizen Forum in association with Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME). 

The study is being headed by Dr. Manak Singhi, IES and former Senior Economic Advisor in the central Ministries including Commerce, Corporate Affairs and Urban Development.

“We look at the six parameters to examine the feasibility of converting this rhetoric to reality covering the level of GSDP and its structure; the level of workforce and its structure; the institutional credit relative to GSDP; the capital expenditure of the State and green field investment; the policy dynamism; and the effectiveness of its administrative apparatus,” explained Dr. Singhi presenting the current status and the strategy to quadruple Meerut GDP.

The GSDP of the Meerut was Rs 51,212 crore recording a CAGR of 9.3 per cent and in order to quadruple in four years CAGR has to reach close to 30 per cent.

The report has indicated that if the investment proposed for Meerut in the recently concluded UP Investment summit amounting to Rs 20,000 crore and 3 per cent share of investment from the UP state budget amounting to Rs 11,000 crore do reach the ground, Meerut economy would reach near the target. 

Along with the investment, three more components need to chip in to realize the target such as 1 per cent efficiency gain through expanding the industrial activity; 1 per cent through institutional reforms and 2 per cent gain through ensuring female labour participation and creating jobs, as per the report.

Contrary to the perception, the district lags behind the national average in several economic parameters such as per capita income, credit deposit ration and employment. 

The female participation in work force remains among the lowest in the country.

According to estimates made on the basis of periodic labour force survey in 2017-18, job seekers and workers were 39.7 per cent and 33.3 per cent respectively, with a very high unemployment rate of 16 per cent. Women workers were just 6.4 per cent of population.

“Unutilized labour potential in Meerut is significant, what is needed is proper planning, training and institutional improvement,” the report highlighted.

Meerut has several existing industrial and service clusters including that of Scissors, Sports goods, Handcrafted and artificial Jewellery, Publishing, Revdi & gajak, Handicrafts, Brass band, Power looms among others. Education and Health services and horticulture are also prominent in the district.  

Besides the representatives of industry and business community, academia and education, NGOs, experts from Delhi School of Economics, Jindal University, ICRIER, CUTS international participated in the roundtable discussions organized both in physical and virtual modes. 

“From the preliminary discussions with a few segments it has become clear that even small but specific policy interventions could reap handsome dividends in expanding industrial activity in the district,” noted Dr. Singhi.

The study team plans to hold detailed discussions with each of sub-sectors in Meerut to propose specific steps to enhance efficiency.

The study is getting all round support from public and community leaders and is being seen as a game changer for transforming the District.

A dedicated website https://meerutgdp.com/ has also been created.

A high profile Advisory Committee is guiding the project comprising of Rajendra Agrawal, Member of Parliament, Meerut; Amit Agarwal, MLA, Meerut Cantonment; N.K Taneja, former Vice Chancellor, Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut and Anil Bhardwaj Secretary General, FISME. 

The Steering Committee is composed of prominent names of the district namely Dinesh Singhal, MD, Kanohar Electricals Limited; Arvind Rastogi, Chief Town Planner, Development Authority (Retd.), Girish Kumar, MD, Sai Electricals Ltd and Vishnu Anand, Charted Accountant among others.  (KNN Bureau)