impact on state finances as the outstanding liability of the state dropped from 33. 8 per cent of gsdp in march 2008 to 21. 1 per cent in march 2012 which is expected to further go down to 19. 6 per cent by march 2013. the reduction in liabilities significantly reduced the debt serving cost, thus opening up the space for higher capital outlays and social expenditure. given the developmental challenge to enhance social and economic infrastructure, it will be desirable for the state to step up mobilisation of its own tax revenues to scale up capital outlays without resorting to borrowings ( table 3 ). table 3 fiscal position of odisha ( as a per cent to gsdp ) note : minus ( - ) sign indicates surplus. source : budget documents of the state government. banking developments let me now turn to development of banking in the state. the formal financial system in india is dominated by banks and same is the case with odisha. the average population per bank branch in odisha declined from 16, 800 in march 2003 to 13, 800 in march 2011 which is bis central bankers ’ speeches somewhat comparable to the national average figure of 13, 400 ( chart 8 ). during this period the number of branches of commercial bank has increased from 2, 240 to 3, 234. apart from the branch network and its population coverage, another major indicator of banking development is the credit - deposit ( cd ) ratio. in the turn of the last decade in 2001, the cd ratio of odisha at 42 per cent was way below the national average of 54 per cent. as the state experienced rapid economic growth, the cd ratio not only accelerated but also exceeded the national average and peaked at 79 per cent in 2005 – 06. subsequently the cd ratio moderated, particularly after 2007 – 08 when growth slowed. as at end - march 2011, odisha ’ s cd ratio at 56 per cent remained significantly below the national average of 76 per cent ( chart 9 ). another indicator of credit penetration is credit to gsdp ratio. this ratio for odisha was also relatively low highlighting the scope for further development of banking in the state ( chart 10 ). bis central bankers ’ speeches not only that the c - d ratio has declined, the inter - regional inequality among districts in credit deployment has also increased in recent years underscoring the need for focused attention to deployment of comparatively less developed districts ( chart 11 ). chattopadhyay ( 2011 ) calculated a composite index of financial inclusion which showed that against the national

women are less likely to be in top positions within firms, and gender quotas can be of help in this respect. in 2021 the bank of italy did its part. we used our regulatory powers to introduce a gender quota for the top management of all italian banks, following the italian law on gender balance for listed companies. let me add another bit of self - promotion. the research department of the bank has been particularly active in studying gender gaps. last year we presented and published the results of a major project looking at various aspects of women ’ s experience in the italian labour market. 9 one of our key findings, to be presented in this workshop, is that gender gaps are already large at the point of entry into the labour market. 10 educational choices, already in high school, are key to explaining much of these gaps. women tend to avoid stem subjects, which – also because of the digital revolution – tend to be more remunerative. let me tell you an anecdote about this. since 2008, the bank of italy has been funding an annual prize for high school students who excel in mathematics and information technology. students ’ participation in the contest is voluntary, and the selection process is entirely conducted by the schools. over 17 years, the prize has been awarded to 340 students. g. peri and c. sparber, “ task specialization, immigration, and wages ”, american economic journal : applied economics, 2009 ; g. basso and g. peri, “ internal mobility : the greater responsiveness of foreign - born to economic conditions ”, journal of economic perspectives, 2020 ; g. barone and s. mocetti, “ with a little help from abroad : the effect of low - skilled immigration on the female labour supply ”, labour economics, 2011. p. mahajan, n. morales, k. shih, a. brinatti and m. chen, “ the impact of immigration on firms and workers : insights from the h - 1b lottery ”, iza dp no. 16917. f. carta, m. de philippis, l. rizzica and e. viviano, “ women, labour markets and economic growth ”, bank of italy workshops and conferences, 26, 2023. g. bovini, m. de philippis and l. rizzica, “ the origins of gender wage gaps : the role of school to work transition ”, bank of italy working paper series, forthcoming. the