Delhiites are earning more, also spending more, shows Delhi govt data

The data shows that more than 60% of Delhiites now own mobile phones, 88% have televisions and more than 17% own laptops and computers with internet.

Delhiites are among the highest earning citizens in the country as the per-capita income of the city increased by more than 10% over the past one year, which is higher than the growth in the national per-capita income. But this also led them to spend more on consumer durables and entertainment.

The data shows that more than 60% of Delhiites now own mobile phones, 88% have televisions and more than 17% own laptops and computers with internet.

EARNING MORE

Deputy chief minister and finance minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday, while launching the Delhi Statistical Handbook, 2017, said: “The annual per capita income of Delhi is estimated at ₹3.03 lakh for the year 2016-2017. It has increased by 10.76% from 2015-16, as compared to 9.7% at national level. The per capita income at the national level is ₹1.03 lakh during 2016-2017.”

He also said that the number of telephones, electricity connections, water connections all registered an increase. The minimum wages have also witnessed a spike.

SPENDING MORE

The data shows that more than 60% of Delhiites now own mobile phones, 88% have televisions and more than 17% own laptops and computers with internet.

More than 68% people in Delhi now have bicycles, scooters and motorcycles, while one out of every five residents now owns a car. The number of registered vehicles has shot up from 9.7 million in 2015-16 to 10.4 million in 2016-17.

People’s drinking habits are also changing. Data shows that the number of people consuming country-made liquor has dropped 17.7% from 30 lakhs to 24 lakhs. But the number of people drinking beer and ‘Indian-made foreign liquor’ has shot up a combined 18.3%. “It is difficult to corelate the two trends or to say people’s growing affluence is making them shift to IMFL or beer. That’s a matter of study,” said Amjad Tak, commissioner of excise, Delhi.

The number of cinema goers has also shot up 1.20 lakhs per-day to 1.24 lakhs per-day between 2015 and 2016.

“Broadly speaking, it shows that the city is growing affluent as the per capita income has increased over the years and people are spending more on food and movies,” said Sanjay Kumar, director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.

FEWER JOBS FROM EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES

The data has also hinted that government-run employment exchanges could be losing their relevance at least among the employers, who may be going to online job portals for recruitment. The number of employers using the exchange has dropped from 485 in 2014, to 365 in 2015. It dropped further to 289 in 2016. The number of applicants placed has also dropped from 176 in 2015, to 102 in 2016.

ENROLMENT FIGURES A MIXED BAG

Schools in the city have seen a rise in the number of students enrolled with them in last three years, but the number has consistently decreased when it came to scheduled caste students in schools.

Every year the city sees a mad rush to take admission in courses of higher studies at Delhi University and other varsities, but the number of students admitted in these institutes has seen a sharp decline from last year.

This year, while the city added two new institutions of higher education, the number of students decreased to 13,73,958 from last year’s 16,07,579. The drop in number of students is 2,33,621.

MORE UTILITY CONNECTIONS

According to the report, the total number of electricity consumers increased from 52.63 lakh in 2015-16 to 55.68 lakh in 2016-17.

Of them, 45.37 lakh were domestic, 9.27 lakh commercial and 52,397 industrial. The consumption of electricity increased from 24,037 million units in 2015-16 to 26,865 million units in 2016-17, it stated.

The total number of telephones in Delhi service area as on November 30, 2016 was 5.23 crore, which included 32.07 lakh wire-line telephones and 4.91 crore wireless ones.

HIGHER PAY FOR DAILY WAGERS

The minimum monthly wage has increased from ₹9,568 in April 2016 to ₹13,350 in April 2017 for unskilled category, from ₹10,582 to ₹14,698 for semi-skilled and from ₹11,622 to ₹16,182 for skilled workers, the report stated.

The number of PNG connections has increased from 46,1881 in 2015-16 to 52,2747 during 2016-17.

The number of metered water connections increased from 19.49 lakh in 2015-16 to 23.16 lakh in 2016-17. Water consumption in 2016-17 was 1,491,400,000 kilo litres. The per capita consumption of water in Delhi is 47 gallons per day, the handbook stated.

There were 1,145 health institutions with 52,003 beds in Delhi as on December 31, 2016, compared to 1,131 health institutions with 48,131 beds as on December 31, 2015.