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Bengaluru, Mar 8: The economic slowdown in the country had a cascading effect on Karnataka, as its growth rate for outgoing fiscal 2019-20 is projected to be 6.8 per cent against 7.8 per cent in the last fiscal (2018-19), a senior official said on Saturday.

"The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is estimated to be 1 per cent less at 6.8 per cent for this fiscal from 7.8 per cent in the last fiscal due to slowdown in manufacturing (industry) and services sectors," an official of the state finance department told media.

Though the agriculture sector has revived from 1.6 per dent in the drought-hit last fiscal (2018-19) to register 3.9 per cent this fiscal, growth rates of industries and services will be 4.8 per cent and 7.9 per cent for 2019-20 against 5.6 per cent and 9.8 per cent respectively in 2018-19.

"The GSDP is projected to grow at 6.3 per cent in the ensuing fiscal of 2020-21 due to continued slowdown in the national economy," the official hinted.

According to the state's economic survey for 2019-20, the farm sector grew more than double to 3.9 per cent from 1.6 per cent a year ago due to increase in the production of foodgrains, dairy products and fish catch.

Foodgrain production across the state rose to 136 lakh tonnes from 128 lakh tonnes a year ago, the survey revealed.

"In line with the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate decline, Karnataka's GSDP has declined from a high of 13.3 per cent in 2016-17 to a low of 6.8 per cent in 2019-20.

"The GSDP has declined from a double-digit growth of 10.8 per cent in 2017-18 to 7.8 per cent in 2018-19 and 6.8 per cent in 2019-20," the survey pointed out.

The survey has adopted the all-India growth rate for the services sector growth in the state, which reflects the impact of slowdown in the key sector.

At current prices, the southern state's GSDP is expected to be Rs 16,99,115 crore (budget estimates) with a 10 per cent growth rate in the next fiscal (2020-21).

"Real estate, professional services and ownership of dwellings contributed 35.31 per cent to the GSDP in 2019-20, followed by manufacturing with 15.32 per cent, trade and repair services 9.51 per cent and crops 7.44 per cent," said the survey findings.

Per capital income in the state at current prices is estimated to be Rs 2,31,246 in 2019-20, an increase of 8.8 per cent from Rs 2,12,477 in 2018-19.

"The per capita income in the state is 58.4 per cent more than that of all-India rate at Rs 1,35,050 in this fiscal," the survey added.

 Mangaluru, July 18: The coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi recorded a total of 346 covid positive cases in last 24 hours. Dakshina Kannada recorded 4 new deaths.

While DK recorded 237 positive cases, neighbouring Udupi saw 109 people testing positive. It may be recalled that DK and Udupi had reported a combined record spurt of 347 Covid-19 cases for a single day on Thursday. 

Dakshina Kannada 

As many as 26,368 samples have been sent for tests so far. Among them 23,096 have turned out negative, and 3,311 people have received positive report. Currently there are 1,848 active cases while 1,387 persons have recovered. 109 patients were discharged from Wenlock as well as private hospitals today. Including today’s four deaths, 75 people have succumbed to covid. Among them 12 are from other districts.

The patients whose deaths were reported today are a 74-year-old female from Puttur who was also suffering from heart disease and asthma, a 67-year-old male who was suffering from pneumonia and was on ventilator, and two females aged 49 and 61 from Mangaluru who suffered cardiac arrest.

Udupi

With 109 new cases, the total number of covid positive cases reported in the district mounted to 2088. Among new cases 58 belong to Udupi taluk, 40 are from Kundapur and 11 from Karkala. 

A total of 24,382 samples have been collected so far, including 524 on Saturday, out of which 17 are coronavirus suspects and 317 are COVID contacts. Out of them, 21,757 samples have turned out to be negative, including 292 on Saturday, and 537 reports are awaited.

As many as 1,586 patients have been discharged so far including 43 on Saturday, and 492 cases are currently active. Ten deaths have occurred so far. One positive case has been transferred to Dakshina Kannada.

Mangaluru, June 11: The private flight chartered by Saudi Arabia's SAQCO Contracting Company to repatriate coastal Kannadigas stranded in the kingdom landed at Mangaluru International Airport at 1:15 am on Wednesday.

The flight with 175 passengers took off from the Dammam International Airport around 6 pm (KSA time).

SAQCO’s Directors Althaf Ullal and Basheer Sagar said that all the legal procedures were carried out smoothly before the flight took off from Dammam for Mangaluru.

The duo also informed that no staff or official of SAQCO were traveling on the chartered flight and that it was arranged only for the stranded Kannadigas. The cost of traveling, institutional quarantine, and COVID-19 tests will be borne by the SAQCO Company.

SAQCO had established a desk to finalize the list of passengers who will be traveling on the flight to Mangaluru on Wednesday. The company added priority was given to pregnant women, the senior citizens who had come to the kingdom on visit visas, people with medical emergencies, people who had lost jobs, and those who had reported deaths in their families.