Maharashtra economically better off, but lags behind in social measures:

Maharashtra economically better off, but lags behind in social measures:

The State is among the top 10 in per capita income; it ranks last among all the States in the share of wasted children:

• Maharashtra is economically better off than many other States and it weathered the pandemic well. However, its performance on various social indicators, particularly those related to health and education, show a sobering trend.
• With a per capita income of Rs 2.8 lakh in 2023-24, over 50% more than the national average, Maharashtra is among the top 10 States on this measure.
• Five years ago, it was not in the top 10 list. The latest numbers therefore show an improvement in the State’s economic performance.
• However, the improvement post-pandemic was not spurred by manufacturing.
• The contribution of manufacturing to the State’s Gross State Value Added (GVA) is on a declining trend, from 15% in 2019-20 to 14.5% in 2023-24, despite the sector employing more workers than before (over 2 percentage points).

• The State spends a relatively small share of its budget on health. Its allocation for education has been reducing over recent years too.
• The social sector has been receiving lower allocations despite the State’s own tax revenues improving and committed expenditures decreasing.
• Compared with 2019-20, Maharashtra’s per capita income rose by over 46% in 2023-24. The State’s rank improved from 10 to 8 out of 25 States with data, in that period (Table 1).
• In general, the State’s spending on health as a share of total expenses has always been lower than other States.
• In 2024-25, Maharashtra is estimated to spend 4.6% on health. In estimated spending, it is ranked 16 out of 19 States, which is an improvement of just two ranks compared to five years prior (Table 2).
• While the State earmarks a larger share for education — 16.4% in 2024-25 — the share has declined from 18.6% in 2019-20.
• Consequently, the State’s rank also declined from the 5th to 7th position in this measure.
• The State features among the bottom ranks across measures related to child health and women empowerment. In 2019-21, Maharashtra was ranked last (30th of 30 States) on the share of wasted children (lower weight-for-height).
• More than 25.6% children fell under this category in the State (Table 3).
• In 2005-06, the State had ranked 13th on this indicator, with just 16.5% children being identified as “wasted”. In the share of stunted children, it ranked 22nd out of 30 States in 2019-21, again two positions lower than in 2005-06.
• In the share of girls who ever attended school, the State ranks 19th of 30 States in 2019-21, with close to 80% of them having attended school. However, the State was among the top 10 States in terms of Infant Mortality Rate and health insurance coverage in 2019-21.
• In 2019-20, over 66.7% of Maharashtra’s revenue receipts were raised from the State’s own tax revenues (SOTR), the highest among the 19 major States compared (Table 4). By 2024-25, the State’s OTR share increased to over 68.7%, though Haryana and Karnataka surpassed it in this metric.
• Maharashtra also has larger headroom for developmental spends compared to nine other major States. Its ratio of committed expenditures to revenue receipts is expected to decline slightly from 57.2% before the pandemic to 55.2% in 2024-25 (Table 5).
• Committed expenditures, which are interest payments, salaries, and pensions, are seen relative to revenue receipts to assess the availability of resources for development purposes.
• The State is also expected to allocate 12.7% of its total expenditure for creating new infrastructure in 2024-25, considerably higher than the 9.6% it had allocated in 2019-20 (Table 6).