A real-time database of Indian state GDP
State GDP figures in India are published early and then revised for about three years. ITIHAS keeps every published version, with its date and its source document, so that anyone can see what was known about a state’s economy at any point in time.
as known on
Small units
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What is in the database
The database brings together three kinds of source: the state governments’ own documents, releases from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, and the Reserve Bank of India’s Handbook of Statistics on Indian States. Every figure is stored with the date it first became public.
The publication record
One mark for each document, by date of publication
The two-year rule
An early estimate of a state’s growth says little about where the figure will finally settle. For about two years after a fiscal year ends, estimates agree only loosely with the latest figure. After 24 months they agree closely. We call this the two-year rule.
Agreement with the latest figure, by age of the estimate
The league table
Rankings of states by growth are often quoted as soon as the first figures appear. Those early rankings change a great deal. Many states move several places once the figures are revised, and only two to four of the first top five stay there.
States ranked by growth: first published against latest
Rank among the 28 states, real GSDP growth, per cent
Where the money would have gone
State GDP is one input to the formula that divides central taxes among the states. We recomputed the 15th Finance Commission’s shares with later, revised figures. Over 2021 to 2026, ₹25,654 crore would have gone to different states. This is a question of when data become reliable, not of whether the formula is fair.
Change in each state’s devolution under revised GSDP