Share of agriculture in India's GDP dips to 16.6 per cent
11 Jul 2009
The share of agriculture in the country's gross domestic product (GDP) has gone down to 16.6 per cent from a whopping 46.3 per cent during the First Five Year Plan period (1951-56), according to data presented by minister of state for agriculture K V Thomas in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
The harm sector has contributed only 16.6 per cent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) so far in the 11th Plan period (2007-12) despite record production of farm commodities in the 2007-08 season, official estimates show.
The sector contributed 17.8 per cent to the overall GDP in the last Plan period (2002-07), he said.
For the plan period 2007-12, the figures for only the first fiscal of the duration (2007-08) have been released.
The sector's share in the country's GDP is expected to fall further in the light of a "below-normal monsoon" during the on-going Kharif, he said.
The dependence on farming, however, has not dipped dramatically, he said, adding that the livelihood of about 65 per cent of the country's population still depends on farming.