Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday said the state income was the single most common and comprehensive economic indicator used to measure the economic health.

Releasing “District Domestic Product (District Income) of Himachal Pradesh” 2011-12 to 2015-16 with base 2011-12 brought out by the Department of Economic and Statistics, Thakur said the state’s income increased from Rs 14,112 crore in 1999-2000 to Rs 1,09,440 crore in 2017-18 at constant prices and to Rs 1,35,914 crore in 2017-18 at current prices. The per capita income at current prices increased from Rs 20,806. In 1999-2000 to Rs 1,58,462 in 2017-18, he added.

He said that the economic position and level of development in all districts of HP was not the same. The contribution of four districts of the state to GSDP was more than 62 per cent during 2015-16. Solan district which has a strong industrial base has the highest domestic product contributing about 24.67 per cent followed by Kangra district having 13.76 per cent, Shimla (13.74 per cent) and Mandi (10.15 per cent) though these districts together had only 30 per cent of the total area of the date.

As regards the district wise per capita income for the year 2015-16 concerned the Solan district has the highest per capita income of Rs 3,94,102, whereas, Kinnaur Rs 2,17,993 and Lahaul-Spiti Rs 1,19,231 rank second and third in per capita income.

Kangra district which ranked second in contribution to a District Domestic Product was placed at the last place in per capita income of Rs 86,637 because the per capita income is the proportion of net district product to the population, he added.

Appreciating the efforts of the department, the CM said that District Domestic Product was the key indicator of human development and living standards of people. HP has emerged as a leading economy in the country and was also a leader in hill area development, agriculture and horticulture revolution.

The CM said the state was an ideal destination for investment in power and tourism sector. He said that responsive administration and conducive macroeconomic conditions have induced a competitive environment in the economy and has lead to a robust economic performance in the state.

Thakur said that Primary Sector contributed 71.01 per cent of the SDP in 1950-51, which declined to 15.39 per cent in 2017-18 and the contribution of secondary sector has increased to 40.09 per cent.