Does Distance Matter in Convergence Among Indian States?

Roy, Subaran and Sen, Chitrakalpa (2025) Does Distance Matter in Convergence Among Indian States? Asian Development Review. ISSN 1996-7241

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

We investigate convergence among Indian states between 1981 and 2016 using the distance of any state from the leading state as our key variable. We focus on the role of three major sectors—agriculture, manufacturing, and infrastructure—in achieving convergence. Prima facie, we do not find any firm evidence of convergence in our dataset. However, unit root tests both at the state level and in panel data confirm convergence. Considering the three main sectors strengthens our findings, indicating that an increase in the relative income gap with the leading state is associated with a decrease in the Distance variable. This is consistent with the notion of convergence. Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Infrastructure variables demonstrate statistically significant relationships with distance, and each has its own individual impact, in terms of magnitude and direction, on convergence. Additionally, we find that the overall effect of each of these three major variables is actually dependent on the distance. Our results remain robust to alternative estimation methods.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: dynamic panel estimation | growth convergence | Indian economy | regional disparities | sectoral dynamics
Subjects: Social Sciences and humanities > Economics, Econometrics and Finance > Econometrics
Social Sciences and humanities > Economics, Econometrics and Finance > Economics
Social Sciences and humanities > Economics, Econometrics and Finance > Statistics and Probability
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Geography
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Planning and Development
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Development
JGU School/Centre: Jindal School of Government and Public Policy
Depositing User: Mr. Gautam Kumar
Date Deposited: 11 Aug 2025 12:25
Last Modified: 11 Aug 2025 12:25
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1142/S011611052550026X
URI: https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/9966

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Actions (login required)

View Item
View Item