Zonal Councils of India
States of India that have been grouped into six zones to foster cooperation among them
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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
- Cultural Zones of India, seven cultural zones in India
- Administrative divisions of India
- List of ecoregions in India, 46 ecoregions in India
- List of special economic zones in India