Industrial Stagnation in Eastern India-A Statistical Investigation

Industrial Stagnation in Eastern India A Statistical Investigation Debdas Banerjee This paper tries to establish the empirical basis of the industrial 'stagnation' in eastern India in general and West Bengal in particular. The analysis is carried out in terms of symptoms, such as a declining or decelerating rate of industrial growth, or an actual decline in output, or a decline in the share of output- Two important structural phenomena, namely (i) change in the relative growth of the large-scale and the medium-scale manufacturing sector, and (ii) change in the product-composition, are seen to have important causal relationships with the industrial stagnation in eastern India. On the other hand, labour disputes as the principal explanatory variable of stagnation fails to satisfy questions related to industrial stagnation and growth. However, further study will be needed to decide whether the problem is merely structural and regional or whether it is more directly linked to the lack of investment on cm all-India scale.