Per Capita Income

The per capita income of Indians for the first time crossed the Rs 50,000-mark in 2010-11, although using current prices as the barometer. According to the revised GDP data for the last financial year, per capita income is estimated to have risen 16.9% to Rs 53,331 compared to Rs 46,117 in the previous year. The $1,000-average income of Indians is seen to be illusionary in economic circles as economists prefer to use factor cost to weed out the impact of inflation. Based on 2004-05 prices, per capita income saw a modest 6.4% increase and reached Rs 35,993 in 2010-11, compared to Rs 33,843 in the previous year. Based on current prices, GDP rose by 18.8% in 2010-11, data released by the Central Statistics Office on Tuesday showed. But it is the real GDP—which factors in the impact of inflation—that is used to gauge economic expansion. By that measure, the Indian economy grew 8.4%. According to the World Bank classification, India is a lower middle-income country. At around Rs 36,000 a year – or $720 – this translates into average income of less than $2 a day. The Indian economy grew 8.4% in 2010-11, marginally lower than the previous estimate of 8.5%, on the back of strong farm sector and services sector growth, data showed on Tuesday. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) released the quick estimates of national income, which showed that the farm sector grew 7% in 2010-11, while the services sector, which accounts for more than 52% of the economy, rose 9.3%.