Per Capita income

For the first time, the per capita monthly income of an average Indian has crossed the Rs 3,000-mark on current price levels because of economic reforms and a high growth rate of above 9% achieved for three years since 2005-06. The per capita income, a measure of average income of a citizen, went up 12.2% to Rs 37,490 per annum during 2008-09, said the advance estimate for national income released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) on Friday. During 2007-08, the per capita income was Rs 33,283 per annum. However, the per capita figures may look a bit less impressive when adjusted for inflation. The CSO estimates showed that when adjusted for inflation, the per capital income reached only Rs 25,494 against Rs 25,661 per annum estimated in February. Clearly, the slowdown in economy has taken money out of everyone’s pockets. Analysts also said the election spend in the March quarter could have helped tweak the figures up a bit. The real cause for worry for the government would come from the manufacturing sector, which continued to be hammered, registering a contraction of 1.4% after having clocked 0.9% growth in previous three quarters. For the UPA, keen to play the aam aadmi beat in celebration of its resounding victory at elections, the task seems to be cut out. With the WPI-based inflation data stabilising prices, global recessions seems to be corroding the financial ability of the poorest section. The upward movement in agriculture noted in the CSO surely seemed to have helped UPA in the elections. Farm production rose at an annualised rate of 2.7% in the first three months of 2009 after having shrunk by 0.8% in the previous quarter. But the government’s eyes would be set at the southern skies for the movement of monsoon. The per capita income would have been higher but for the global economic crisis, which pulled down the country’s economic growth during 2008-09 to 6.7% from 9% in the previous fiscal. The national income during the year went up to Rs 43.26 lakh crore, showing a rise of 14.2%, while the population of the country increased by 1.6 crore to 115.4 crore. The CSO data further says that the national income at 1999-2000 prices increased by 6.4% to Rs 29.42 lakh crore during 2008-09.