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Abstract
The benefits of agricultural growth have been concentrated in India’s richer states, leaving the poorer
states lagging further behind. The convergence process of agricultural economic growth in the context of
globalisation and economic liberalisation would reveal the implications for support for or withdrawal from
economic reform and for further opening of the Indian economy. Evidence of absolute β-convergence in
per hectare net state domestic product (NSDP) agricultural levels across Indian states reveals the tendency
of states to converge to identical steady states level. Bernard Jones approach confirms that convergence is
conditional. Fertiliser, public finance, small-landholdings, cropping intensity, agricultural research and
education, physical infrastructure, agricultural mechanisation and diversification were the discerned
factors for causing conditional convergence. The study concludes that the benefits of economic reforms
started by Government of India have shown impact on the convergence process of per hectare NSDP
agriculture among Indian states.