Services have been an important segment of GSDP of Meerut accounting for 44 per cent of district GDP. The share of tertiary sector gross value added in Meerut has been around 2.9 per cent of the aggregate GSVA from this sector in Uttar Pradesh. Sector wise GSVA of tertiary sector in Meerut is in Table 22. Services are further categorized as market driven and non-market driven. The other services which comprise mainly education, health and other miscellaneous household services are usually not market driven. Particularly, for education and health are considered merit goods and often considered obligatory for the public sector, directly or through outsourced mechanism. Basic education and preventive healthcare have externalities and are not fully left in market domain. While public administration and professional services (including real estate) are the fastest growing services, contact intensive sector of trade and hotels grew much slower. Further, Meerut is yet to fully exploit the tourism potential of the district.
Overall persons engaged in tertiary sector in 2013 in Meerut were estimated a little over lakhs in 2013. Nearly half of these were in the trade sector followed by other services, education and transport sector (Table 23). Given the growth of services during this period and Meerut being an education and publishing hub, total number of persons engaged in mix of services could beanywhere between 5-6 lakh.
2011-12 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | CAGR | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trade, hotels and restaurants | 1,802 | 3,441 | 3,691 | 4,082 | 3,025 | 5.9 |
Transport & communication | 937 | 2,230 | 2,812 | 3,029 | 2,371 | 10.9 |
Financial services | 634 | 1,153 | 1,272 | 1,531 | 1,615 | 11.0 |
Real estate & professional services | 2,384 | 5,397 | 6,053 | 6,418 | 7,013 | 12.7 |
Public administration | 831 | 3,226 | 3,793 | 4,265 | 4,155 | 19.6 |
Other services | 984 | 1,679 | 1,973 | 2,265 | 2,288 | 9.8 |
Tertiary Sector | 7,571 | 17,127 | 19,594 | 21,590 | 20,467 | 11.7 |
Uttar Pradesh | 310,326 | 626,642 | 699,899 | 767,433 | 714,629 | 9.7 |
Share of Meerut | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.8 | 2.9 |
[Source: Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Uttar Pradesh]
Sector | Rural | Urban | Total | Rural | Urban | Total |
Number of Establishments/ Units | Number of Persons Engaged | |||||
Total | 33,660 | 79,158 | 112,818 | 54,966 | 151,400 | 205,706 |
Uttar Pradesh | 2,138,418 | 1,865,811 | 4,004,229 | 3,832,363 | 4,056,915 | 7,889,278 |
Share | 1.6 | 4.2 | 2.8 | 1.4 | 3.7 | 2.6 |
[Source: Uttar Pradesh- District Fact Book: India state Publications 2022]
Given the structure of economy of Meerut, it would need to pursue a unique strategy of development. It has a vibrant agriculture, but its long-term sustainability is seriously constrained, it has a diversified manufacturing base, but that is relatively shrinking, due to both to its internal constraints and also as competition from neighboring districts is intensifying, it has a diversified and well entrenched service sector, but trade and tourism potential is hardly exploited and education and health sector not getting into the competitive mode. Public administration and defense, though has been a fast-growing sector, has limitations and digital revolution and delivery of services moving to that mode, further expansion possibilities are not that significant.
Services sector is more heterogeneous by its very nature. It has purely monetised sector comprising trade and transport. It covers mixed sector such as health and education and purely non monetized sector as public administration. Further, while trade and transport by and large private sector dominated, health and education have both public and private sector presence and public administration by definition, a government driven. Further, dependency of this sector on infrastructure as roads is as significant as manufacturing. In services sector, we have also included construction because its problems are more similar to services sector and it is partly driven by professionals. Like manufacturing, we look at different sectors (excluding the financial sector) of services to identify the constraints and what the stakeholders' expectations .
Besides the hard infrastructure, there is need for soft interventions. Some of the common problems and a possible menu of solutions have been outlined in table below. This is not an exhaustive list, but a tentative one and more can be added as identified. But soft interventions are equally important as hard interventions and infrastructure. In the entire analysis so far, we have not touched the infrastructure of power, roads and civic amenities. Adequate power at affordable rates is a pre requisite for economic activities. Meerut is relatively better placed with power with overall technical losses under 20 per cent. Road network is expanding and State has an extensive programme of connectivity. Digital connectivity is a dynamic concept and is rapidly changing.
Box 12 : Grinding Wheel of Justice : Justice System in Meerut |
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The Meerut District faces significant economic challenges due to high number of non-hearing days in Court. It is estimated that Meerut District Court has hearingson less than 100 days in a year. The main reasons for loss of hearing days are abstinence from work by lawyers, 'no working days' declared by the Bar Association, and absence of judges. Lawyers in Meerut call strikes far too often and for various reasons, e.g.,for demanding a High Court bench in West UP, any tussle with local administration, on cultural & political events, etc. Lawyers also observe condolence days to mourn the death of a fellow lawyer or judge, which are frequently misused and sometimes extended to observe the death of family members. Bar association-declared "no adverse order" days on not so perfect weather conditions, etc further contribute to no-hearing days. Non-hearing days also include the numerous holidays declared by High Court. Moreover, the absence of judges due to leaves, transfers, or not hearing cases adds to be problem. |
The economic impact of these non-hearing days is substantial. The entire judicial establishment remains present but non-operational, incurring costs for court staff, facilities, police personnel, and utility bills. Litigants face wasted time and resources due to travel for hearings. The delay adjudication of matters leads to a significant lock-up of capital, amounting to thousands of crores, in prolonged disputes. To address these issues, several solutions are proposed. The last day of the month can be designated for condolence references after lunch to streamline and reduce the impact of condolence days. E-courts can be utilized to track judge vacancies and absenteeism, daily hearings should be conducted using 'digital display boards' and cause list, and non-hearing days should be marked in the e-court calendar with specified reasons. Management Information System (MIS) should be generated to track non-hearing days for each reason. Finally, there is a need to sensitize and create awareness among the bar association members regarding the negative economic consequences of non-working days. |
Refer Annexure 2: Meerut District Judiciary: Critical role in economic wellbeing |
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