UP's new quest for $1 trillion economy by 2027

The state government of Uttar Pradesh has re-initiated the efforts to appoint a consultant to suggest measures to make the state a $1 trillion economy by 2027. The earlier tender, seeking a consultant to boost the size of UP economy to that level by 2025, was cancelled last year. The five-year time frame given to make UP a jumbo economy has thus shifted from 2020-25 to 2022-27.

The current plan is to open the e-tender window for submission of request for proposals (RFP) by applicants – research institutions, think tanks etc - from March 15 till April 14. A pre-bid meeting is scheduled at Yojana Bhavan, Lucknow on March 22. The technical e-bids will be opened for scrutiny on April 18.

According to the Department of Planning of UP, the consultant will have to develop a strategic framework, create an implementation roadmap, suggest institutional reforms and develop a monitoring and evaluation framework.

The task is not easy as UP's Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) was ₹17.06 lakh crore in 2020-21, up from ₹16.88 crore in 2019-20. It needs to increase over fourfold to achieve the $1 trillion (over ₹75 lakh crore) target in the next five years.

The consultant will carry out a detailed analysis of the macro and micro economic sectoral data around GSDP, trade, investment, expenditure, savings, workforce participation, inflation, import and export, etc to identify the strengths and weaknesses of UP economy. It will also cover all key sectors like agriculture and allied sectors, infrastructure, rural development, industrial development, social sector, healthcare, skill development, natural resources, and emerging technology intensive sectors.

The consultant will suggest creation of reporting mechanisms and dashboards that can allow the Chief Minister's Office monitor the level of implementation of each project the way the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) monitors key national programmes.

Incidentally one of the tasks assigned to the consultant in the earlier RFP was to pick up top three states of India and top three countries across the globe with similarities to UP and compare the structural, institutional, financial, and governance reforms carried out and outcomes achieved for suggesting ways for faster economic growth. The previous RFP had also wanted the consultant to submit the first draft of its technical report within 40 days of taking up the assignment.