Top five Indian states generate half of GDP, highlighting growing economic disparity across the nation
India’s five largest state economies — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat — contributed nearly 48 per cent of the country’s GDP in FY2025, according to a white paper released today by Client Associates, a private wealth management firm. The bottom 10 states together accounted for less than 3 percent of national output.
Maharashtra led with a 13.3 per cent share of national GDP, while Tamil Nadu posted the highest year-on-year growth among the top five at 16 per cent in FY2025.
India’s nominal GDP crossed ₹340.7 lakh crore in FY2025, making it the fifth-largest economy in the world, with real GDP growth of 7.1 per cent. However, the report flags that this headline figure masks sharp state-level disparities. Maharashtra’s economy is 133 times larger than Mizoram’s. Goa’s per capita income is more than eight times that of Bihar.
Top-ranked
In the composite investment-readiness rankings, Gujarat emerged as the top-ranked state, followed by Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. Gujarat’s positioning was driven by a combination of factors. The state recorded one of India’s lowest unemployment rates at 2.7 per cent, supported by a diversified industrial base spanning chemicals, textiles, diamonds, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals. Its fiscal deficit stood at just 1.86 per cent of GDP, among the lowest nationally.
On foreign investment, India attracted ₹4.22 lakh crore in FDI equity inflows in FY2025, a 14.7 per cent increase over FY2024, though Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi and Tamil Nadu captured 83.3 per cent of total inflows.
The report flags a widening prosperity gap. Sikkim and Goa recorded per capita incomes of approximately ₹5.88 lakh and ₹5.86 lakh respectively, against Bihar’s ₹69,321 — a gap of more than eight times. Only 16 of 30 states exceeded the national average of ₹2.58 lakh.
On growth velocity, Assam led all states with a five-year nominal GDP CAGR of 17.3 per cent, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Meghalaya at around 15.3 per cent each. Uttar Pradesh recorded a five-year nominal CAGR of 15.3 per cent, which the report describes as a structural inflection rather than a cyclical bounce, driven by the NIVESH MITRA single-window portal, land record digitization, and the state’s emergence as a logistics and defense manufacturing corridor.
The report clusters states into four tiers — established anchors, high-potential performers, reform opportunities, and states requiring fiscal rehabilitation — with Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Jammu & Kashmir flagged for elevated debt and fiscal stress.
Client Associates manages assets of approximately $6.1 billion for over 1,400 families across India.
Published on May 19, 2026