Fact-checking Adityanath’s claim that UP became the second-largest economy after he came to power

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath recently claimed that before the Bharatiya Janata Party came into power in the state in 2017, UP’s economy had been consistently ranked sixth or seventh. He added that the state now, under the leadership of the BJP government since 2017, has the second-largest economy in the country.

“From 1947 to 2017, Uttar Pradesh’s economy was ranked sixth or seventh in the country. What could not be done in 70 years, we were able to do in five years. We brought Uttar Pradesh’s economy to number 2 spot in the country,” said Adityanath while speaking at a press conference in Lucknow.

However, when verified, Adityanath’s claim did not hold up against official records. The state’s gross state domestic product stood second between 2004-’05 and 2010-’11 and third between 2011-’12 and 2020-’21.

FactChecker referred to the Handbook Of Statistics On Indian States published by the Reserve Bank of India using data compiled by the National Statistical Office of the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. FactChecker has compared gross state domestic product data at both current and constant prices. Current prices are influenced by the effect of price inflation, whereas constant prices are used to measure the true growth of a series, ie adjusting for the effects of price inflation, according to The World Bank.

2004-2017

At current prices, with the base of 2004-2005, Uttar Pradesh’s GSDP stood second after Maharashtra from 2004-’05 to 2010-’11. In fact, UP’s economy was already the second largest in the nation between 2004-’05 and 2010-’11.

At constant prices too, UP was ranked second after Maharashtra from 2004-’2005 to 2009-’2010. In 2010-’11, UP slipped to third with a GSDP of Rs 3.96 lakh crore, behind Maharashtra (Rs 7.42 lakh crore) and Tamil Nadu (Rs. 4.03 lakh crore).

This shows that between 2004-’05 and 2020-’11, UP’s economy did not fall below the third position.

Uttar Pradesh’s GSDP was consistently ranked third in the entire country for five years – between 2011-’12 and 2016-’17. In these years, the state’s GSDP, both at current and constant prices, was behind that of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

2017-2020

In the three years, between 2017-’18 and 2019-’20, UP’s GSDP data at current prices did not slip at all and stayed at the number 3, behind Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. In 2017-’18, Maharashtra’s GSDP, at current prices, was the highest in the country at Rs 23.52 lakh crore, followed by Tamil Nadu (Rs 14.65 lakh crore) and UP (Rs 14.16 lakh crore). Similarly, in 2018-’19 and 2019-’20, the rankings did not change – Maharashtra’s GSDP was Rs 25.79 lakh crore and Rs 28.18 lakh crore, Tamil Nadu’s was Rs 16.30 lakh crore and Rs 17.97 lakh crore and Uttar Pradesh’s was Rs 15.84 lakh crore and Rs 16.87 lakh crore, respectively.

At constant prices, with the base year being 2011-’12, UP’s GSDP slipped to the fourth spot in 2017-’18 and stayed there for 2018-’19 and 2019-’20. In 2017-’18, UP’s GSDP was Rs 10.57 lakh crore, behind Maharashtra (Rs 19.14 lakh crore), Tamil Nadu (Rs 11.25 lakh crore), and Gujarat (Rs 10.86 lakh crore).

2020-2021

In 2020-’21, UP’s GSDP at current prices (Rs 17.05 lakh crore) was behind Tamil Nadu’s (Rs 19.02 lakh crore). However, for 12 states, data is incomplete and has not been published, including Maharashtra and Gujarat.

At constant prices, with the base year as 2011-’12, UP (Rs 10.92 lakh crore) stood third behind Tamil Nadu (Rs 12.96 lakh crores) and Karnataka (Rs 11.13 lakh crore). This shows that UP’s economy, in 2020-’21, was not the second-largest in the country on both parameters.

FactChecker called up CM Adityanath’s office and sent an email asking for clarification, but received no response on either medium. This report will be updated as and when we do.

This article first appeared on FactChecker.in, a publication of the data-driven and public-interest journalism non-profit IndiaSpend.