India’s UP seeks consultant to help it become $1 trillion economy

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The government of Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India, on Tuesday made a renewed call to hire a consultant to help the state fulfil the target of expanding its economy to $1 trillion in the next five years. The announcement came less than a week after the BJP won the assembly polls.

The Yogi Adityanath-led government had notified the need for a consultant in 2020, after which eight firms submitted bids, including Deloitte, Boston Consulting Group, Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow and Grant Thornton, according to officials of the state planning department, but the process could not be concluded.

It has now revived the plan and made a fresh call for bids. The last date for submissions is April 14 and the technical bids will be opened on April 18.

The GDP of the state was estimated atRs 19.40 lakh crore in 2020-2021, and is projected to be Rs 21.74 lakh crore or about $285 b dollar in 2021-2022. Therefore, the government is targeting a nearly fourfold increase by 2027, which is also when the next assembly election will be due. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had earlier claimed the BJP would turn the state into the country’s largest economy once the party comes back to power in 2022.

The state has taken a cue from the PM’s target of making the country a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25. “Aligning the state with the national target, theCM is keen to play a leading role. He has set up a target of making UP a one trillion dollar economy in the same period,” said one of the terms of reference in the request for proposal.

(The Economic Times)