Regional imbalance is the unequal development of different regions in the country. At regional level there are few areas which are ahead in development, while some areas lag far behind in development. For example, at present, Bundelkhand is far behind other adjacent regions in terms of development.

Examples: Undivided Bihar and Madhya Pradesh have ample resources, but are backward financially.

Study of intraregional imbalance: K.V Sundaram, in “Principal component analysis technique”, has identified low and extremely low level of underdeveloped regions of India, using 14 variables. In this study, central east and central south India is included. In this, the important city centres are considered as specific growth indicators.

The following five backward regions have been identified as the area of problem:

1. North – eastern India. 

2. East central Indian tribal belt. 

3. Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Northern Bihar. 

4. Uttar Pradesh and Bundelkhand area of Madhya Pradesh. 

5. Imbalanced regions with ecological perspective.

Based on 1991 figures, Moni (1999) with the help of 38 variables, has tried to map the development of the country at district level. In this context, those areas were identified in which no development work was done in the past 20 years.

For the identification of backward areas and study of their problems at the administrative level, 

following committees were constituted:

1. Chakrawarti Committee – 1972 (by Planning Commission).

2. Shivaraman Committee – 1978. 

3. I. G. Patel Committee – 1984 (For Gujarat). 

4. Dandekar fact finding Committee-1984, (for Maharashtra).

Reasons for financial backwardness: 

Planning Commission has pointed out the following reasons for financial backwardness:

1. Historical negligence. 

2. Physical inconvenience – climate, soil, topography, etc. 

3. Social Backwardness – Tribal area, marginal people, harassed community.

Dissimilarity in development is also found at state level. The per capita income, urbanization, literacy, poverty percentage, unemployment, basic amenities, crop intensity, irrigation, etc. variables are used for its study.