deepak mohanty : economic and financial developments in uttarakhand speech by mr deepak mohanty, executive director of the reserve bank of india, at the g. b. pant university of agricultural technology, pantnagar, 31 august 2012. * * * the assistance provided by p k nayak and s suraj in preparation of the speech is acknowledged. i thank professor murthy for inviting me to share my thoughts with a young audience in an institution which has a formidable reputation in agricultural research as having pioneered the “ green revolution ”. in my talk today, i propose to briefly outline the economic and financial structure of the state as well as highlight various financial inclusion initiatives taken by the reserve bank. i will then indicate a few policy challenges in sustaining the growth momentum. i conclude with some thoughts on the agricultural economy. i will trace the economic development starting from the early 2000s mainly because uttarakhand was instituted in 2000 as the 27th state of the republic of india. the state known as the abode of gods is truly a paradise for nature lovers and adventure sports endowed with the natural bounty of glaciers, rivers and forests. it is one of the thinly populated states accounting for 1. 6 per cent of the total geographical area of the country and 0. 8 per cent of the national population. located in the foothills of the himalayas, uttarakhand ’ s terrain and agro - climatic conditions obviously provide unique challenges as well as opportunities for growth and development. macroeconomic trends in the 2000s, the indian economy witnessed acceleration in economic growth. it is noteworthy that the state registered even higher growth thus emerging as one of the fastest growing states in india ( chart 1 ). the growth acceleration in the state was also reflected in the per capita income which increased by 168 per cent from ₹19, 457 in 2001 – 02 to ₹52, 125 by 2011 – 12. the increase in the state per capita income was much sharper as compared to the all - india per capita income which increased by 81 per cent from ₹20, 943 to ₹37, 851 during the same period ( chart 2 ). this enabled the state to significantly improve its rank among the 28 states from 17th to 10th during the same period. the growth impulses in the initial phase during 2001 – 08 emanated mainly from industry and services. in the latter phase of 2009 – 12, growth was driven by the services sector. however, in both the phases agricultural growth remained low and volatile (

transactions in the offshore markets. 7. as i said earlier, the pace of the development of offshore rmb business and markets also crucially depends on the third factor, that is the role that the private sector can and should play in the process. it is not likely that a market can thrive just with policy headroom and financial infrastructure. banks and other financial institutions must develop their capability to satisfy their customers who have a need or an interest in using rmb. trading companies need trade finance in rmb. corporates investing in china need direct or indirect financing in rmb and asset owners need a variety of rmb financial products. many of them need to use instruments to manage or hedge their rmb exposures. all these rmb related financial services and products can only be developed by the markets and financial institutions because they are closest to their customers and understand their needs best. that is why it is so important for the hkma to collaborate with our official sector counterparts in australia to create this private - sector led dialogue. the first dialogue was held in sydney in april last year, which was highly successful. i am very pleased that it is hong kong ’ s turn to host the second dialogue and i am confident that it will be equally if not more successful. i note that today ’ s dialogue has a very rich agenda and i look forward to hearing useful and practical ideas and suggestions on what the private sector can do on its own or in collaboration with the official sector to further develop the offshore rmb markets in australia and hong kong. 8. thank you very much. bis central bankers ’ speeches