BJP’s lack of pro-growth policies make trillion-dollar economy target for U.P. a pipe dream, says Samajwadi Party

Amid the Uttar Pradesh government’s push for a trillion-dollar economy by 2029, the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday (December 24, 2025) mocked the target, claiming that the lack of serious pro-growth policies to address structural economic problems makes the trillion-dollar target unreasonable and impossible.

The SP said UP’s per capita income remains roughly half the national average, with agriculture still accounting for just over a fifth of the Gross Domestic Product (GSDP) but employing more than half of the workforce, indicating large productivity gaps in the agricultural sector.

“UP’s GSDP was ₹22.57 lakh crore in 2022-23, about $271 billion at the 2023 exchange rate, and only ₹25.48 lakh crore in 2023-24. Reaching $1 trillion by 2029 requires sustainable real growth of over 30% per annum, well above the historical performance of Uttar Pradesh and India’s national average. “Despite UP benefiting from a unique demographic dividend and central government investment, UP’s real GDP in 2012-13 and 2021-22 grew by just 5.3% annually, below the national average of 5.6%, let alone the required rate.” The party said in a statement:

“The state ranks 13th among 17 major states in terms of agricultural productivity and faces challenges from manufacturing growth, poor infrastructure and low credit penetration, which are critical for rapid GDP growth,” SP’s national spokesperson Ram Pratap Singh said.

Mr. Singh added that without addressing the fundamental problems in agriculture such as small land holdings, poor extension services, inadequate storage of agricultural output and limited value addition alongside production, it is unrealistic to achieve sustainable growth above 15% and the required 30% is impossible.

SP spokesman Nasser Salim also claimed that there were structural development gaps in government plans.

“Government plans face a critical structural gap in basic income levels required to stimulate consumption. A verified NITI Aayog report clearly states that Uttar Pradesh’s “nominal per capita income is half of the national per capita income.” This structural gap limits the size of the domestic market required to sustain a $1 trillion economy. Moreover, despite investment policies, regional inequality remains robust. World Bank and government data show that the Bundelkhand region contributes only around 5.5% of the State’s agricultural production. It also makes it clear that growth is not synchronized across regions within the state,” said Mr Salim.

Earlier in the month, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath himself inspected the progress of initiatives aimed at turning the state into a $1 trillion economy and said the state was on the right track and had room to achieve the rapid growth needed to achieve this goal. ‎