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Zonal Councils of India

Zonal Councils are advisory councils and are made up of the states and union territories of India that have been grouped into six zones to foster cooperation among them. These were set up by Part-III of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.[1]

Members

The Union Home Minister of India is the common chairman each of the five zonal councils. Within the each zonal council, the chief minister of the respective member states act as the vice-chairman of the council by rotation, holding office for a period of one year at a time. The governor of a union territory within a zone are not appointed as the vice-chairman.[1]

Zonal councils

The present composition of each of these Zonal Councils is as under[1][2]:-

# Name Names of member states, UTs (marked *) & special invites (marked ^) Number of states Number of UTs (includes NCT-Delhi) Headquarters[3] Notes
1. Northern Zonal Council
4 4 New Delhi
2. Southern Zonal Council
5 3 Chennai Covers Peninsular India. union territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep are not members of any of the Zonal Councils.[4] However, they are presently special invitees to the Southern Zonal Council.[5]
3. Central Zonal Council
4 0 Prayagraj
4. Eastern Zonal Council
4 0 Kolkata
5. Western Zonal Council
3 1 Mumbai
6. North Eastern Council
8 0 Shillong Northeastern states are not covered by any of the Zonal Councils and their special problems are addressed by another statutory body, the North Eastern Council at Shillong, created by the North Eastern Council Act, 1971.[6] This council originally comprised Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura; later the state of Sikkim was also added vide North Eastern Council (Amendment) Act, 2002 notified on 23 December 2002.[7]

Economy

With a nominal gross domestic product of 4.15 trillion US dollars in 2026, India ranks sixth in the world. It has a GDP growth rate of 6.48% and a per capita GDP of 2,813 US dollars.[8]

The Table alongside shows the GDP of each starting from the highest. While the South Zone has the highest GDP, the East Zone has the lowest GDP.[9]

GSDP at current prices (in ₹ billions)

Column Header 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Zonal GDP
South Andaman & Nicobar Islands Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Puducherry Tamil Nadu Telengana Lakshadweep 117,480
GDP Not Available 18,300 30,701 14,271 527 35,678 18,003 Not available
Year – 2025-26 2025-26 2024-25 2025-26 2025-26 2025-26 –
North East Arunachal Pradesh Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura 11,582
GDP 478 7,416 499 666 395 550 570 1008
Year 2025-26 2025-26 2025-26 2024-25 2025-26 2025-26 2025-26 2025-26
West Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu Goa Gujarat Maharashtra 80,604
GDP Not available 1,390 29,820 49,394
Year 2025-26 2025-26 2024-25
North Chandigarh Delhi Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Ladakh Punjab Rajasthan 60,988
GDP 478 7416 499 666 395 550 570 1008
Year 2025-26 2025-26 2025-26 2024-25 2025-26 2025-26
Central Chhattisgarh Madhya Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand 58,388
GDP 6,350 16,945 30,800 4,293
Year 2025-26 2025-26 2025-26 2025-26
East Bihar Jharkhand Odisha West Bengal 47,481
GDP 10,970 5,563 10630 20318
Year 2025-26 2025-26 2025-26 2025-26

Source: [9]

See also

References

  1. ^ “Zonal Council”. Archived from the original on 8 May 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  2. ^ M Laxmikanth (2020). Indian Polity (6th ed.). McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. p. 15.5. ISBN 978-93-89538-47-2.
  3. ^ “The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 (Act No.37 Of 1956)” (PDF). Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  4. ^ “Present Composition of the Southern Zonal Council” (PDF). Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  5. ^ “NEC — North Eastern Council”. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  6. ^ “Zonal Council |”. mha.nic.in. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  7. ^ “World GDP Ranking 2026 List”. cleartax. Retrieved 24 May 2026.
  8. ^ a b “State of State Finances Report”. PRS Legislative Research. Retrieved 24 May 2026.