The average Indian has reason to pop the bubbly. The booming economy has led to both their saving and spending power improve dramatically. Annual per capita incomes have risen by over Rs 4,000 in five years, a trend which has never been seen before.
The per capita income has increased from Rs 16,133 to Rs 20,734 when at constant (1990-2000) prices. The biggest jump has been recorded in 2005-06 when incomes rose by 7.4, the highest figure recorded so far.
The Central Statistical Organisation report released on Wednesday summarises the growth of the Indian economy and agriculture since 2000 and the impact on the citizen.
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The economy grew by nine per cent in 2005-06 and agriculture by 6 per cent during the same period. Montek Singh Aluwalia, deputy chairman, Planning Commission, termed the report a 'positive' indication of the country's economy but expressed concern over poor agricultural growth.
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"The average agricultural growth is about 2.4 per cent substantially lower than the target of four per cent," he said.
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"The average agricultural growth is about 2.4 per cent substantially lower than the target of four per cent," he said.
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The report also provided an insight into the changing expenditure habits of Indians. Since 2000, spending on health, beverages, transport, communication and education has almost doubled. More people now prefer eating out than ever before with the restaurant industry growing at an average annual rate of 15-17 per cent, according to the report.
The average Indian has become more health conscious as spending on medical care jumped from Rs 61,199 in 2000 to Rs 1.12 lakh in 2005-06. Expenditure on sugar, potato, oil products, tobacco and its products declined, despite the rising prices of these products.
Spending on beverages, including liquor, increased from Rs 21,000 to around Rs 50,000 between 2000 and 2006. Higher incomes has meant higher domestic savings which have increased from Rs 9,73,028 crores in 2004-05 to Rs 11,56,809 in 2005-06. Indians are putting money in investments and not just physical assets, the report said.
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.
