Chandigarh/Ahmedabad/Gurugram:
A comparative look at three major Indian states —Panjab, Haryana and Gujarat — reveals how different policy choices and long-term vision shaped their present realities. Once the backbone of India’s food security, Punjab today finds itself lagging behind Haryana and Gujarat in economic diversification, industrial growth, and youth retention.
Agriculture: From Strength to Stagnation
Punjab led the Green Revolution and fed the nation for decades. However, its continued dependence on the wheat–paddy cycle, free power, and excessive groundwater extraction gradually turned an advantage into a structural trap. Haryana introduced partial crop diversification, while Gujarat aggressively shifted towards high-value crops, agro-processing, and export-oriented agriculture. Water pricing and management reforms further strengthened Gujarat’s sustainability model — an area where Punjab failed to act in time.
Industry and Employment: A Missed Manufacturing Window
Between the mid-1990s and early 2010s, India witnessed a major industrial expansion. Haryana leveraged its proximity to Delhi-NCR to develop automobile, IT, and services hubs. Gujarat adopted manufacturing as a core state strategy, creating sector-specific industrial clusters, ports, logistics networks, and a business-friendly regulatory environment. Punjab, on the other hand, lacked a clear industrial vision, leading to weak private investment and limited job creation outside agriculture.
Geography: Advantage Used vs Advantage Wasted
Haryana monetised its location near the national capital, becoming an extension of NCR’s corporate ecosystem. Gujarat capitalised on its coastline and ports, emerging as a global trade gateway. Punjab’s strategic border location, however, remained largely a security responsibility rather than an economic opportunity, with limited focus on logistics, exports, or cross-border trade potential.
Youth and Human Capital
Punjab’s youth increasingly view migration as the primary path to success, driven by limited local opportunities and social pressures. Haryana’s young workforce feeds into NCR’s corporate sector, while Gujarat has cultivated an entrepreneurial culture supported by skills training and state-backed enterprise ecosystems. The drug addiction crisis further weakened Punjab’s human capital, deepening social and economic challenges.
Governance and Long-Term Vision
Policy continuity and long-term planning have been Gujarat’s defining strengths. Haryana followed an opportunistic but relatively stable development path aligned with NCR growth. Punjab suffered from frequent policy shifts, short-term political priorities, and weak institutional accountability. As a result, investor confidence and systemic reform remained inconsistent.
Diaspora: Emotion vs Investment
Punjab’s global diaspora continues to contribute through remittances and emotional ties, but structured investment channels remain limited. Gujarat successfully converted its diaspora networks into business partnerships, trade links, and capital inflows, strengthening its global economic footprint.
The Core Insight
Experts point out that Punjab’s relative decline is not the result of external discrimination but of delayed adaptation. While Haryana leveraged proximity and Gujarat engineered future-ready systems, Punjab remained anchored to past success without redefining its role in a changing economy.
The Way Forward
Punjab still possesses strong social capital, a skilled diaspora, and strategic relevance. However, revival depends on decisive reforms in water governance, agricultural diversification, industrial development, youth engagement, and policy stability. Without a shared long-term vision, the gap with faster-growing states is likely to widen.
The comparison underscores a hard truth: states that evolve after success move ahead — those that do not, fall behind.