Hyderabad: Telangana has entered the World Bank’s upper-middle-income economies category, becoming one of only five Indian states to cross the prescribed per capita income threshold. The latest estimates placed the state’s per capita income for 2025-26 at ₹4,18,931, or about USD 5,407.
The World Bank classifies economies with a per capita income between USD 4,636 and USD 14,375 as upper-middle income. Telangana ranked third among Indian states behind Delhi (USD 6,217) and Karnataka (USD 5,579). It remained ahead of Tamil Nadu (USD 5,329) and Gujarat (USD 4,734).
Since its formation in 2014, Telangana’s per capita income has risen from ₹1.24 lakh in 2014-15 to an estimated ₹4.19 lakh in 2025-26. Meanwhile, the state’s per capita income stood at nearly 1.9 times the projected national average of ₹2.19 lakh.
Upper-middle-income economies reflect Telangana’s growth
Ranga Reddy district recorded the highest per capita income in the state at ₹11.29 lakh. Hyderabad followed with ₹4.77 lakh.
Further, Telangana retained the highest per capita income among major states from 2019-20 to 2024-25. However, Karnataka moved ahead in the 2025-26 estimates.
The state’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) recorded an average annual growth of 12.7 per cent between 2014 and 2023, compared with the national average of 10.5 per cent. Additionally, Telangana’s GSDP for 2025-26 is estimated at ₹17.82 lakh crore, with an economic growth rate of 10.7 per cent.
Telangana’s share in India’s GDP also increased from 4 per cent in 2014-15 to 4.8 per cent in 2022-23. However, the latest economic indicators suggested that growth momentum had moderated in recent years even as the state remained among India’s leading economies.