Delhi, India: The National Statistical Office (NSO) reports that since the Narendra Modi-led NDA government assumed power in 2014–15, India's nominal per capita income has increased by twofold to Rs 1,72,000.
According to the NSO, the annual per capita (net national income) is estimated to be Rs 1,72,000 in 2022-2023 at current prices, up from Rs 86,647 in 2014-15, implying a 99.99 percent increase.
According to NSO data, real and nominal per capita incomes decreased during the Covid period. Nevertheless, it has resumed in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.
According to Pinaki Chakraborty, a former director of the world's leading institute for economic research, the World Development Indicator data base, India's per-capita income increased by 5.6% annually from 2014 to 2019.
"This expansion is important. The outcomes of health, education, and economic and social mobility have all improved. We were badly affected by Covid. However, since Covid, we have seen a significant economic recovery," he stated.
"This momentum can be maintained by maintaining per-capita income growth at 5% to 6% per year through the use of appropriate redistributive policies. We must also take into account the country's uneven growth. Adjusted local improvement will go about as an impetus for higher development," he said.
However, inequality in income continues to be a problem, with the majority of the increase going to the top 10% of the population. According to Nagesh Kumar, Director of the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), "the rising concentration of incomes at the high end means that incomes of those at the lower rung of the income ladder may not be changing much."
Inflation, in addition to unequal distribution, is a concern. "You are looking at GDP in current prices, but if you take inflation into account, the increase is much less," noted development economist Jayati Ghosh stated regarding the nominal doubling of per capita income.
Ghosh emphasized that distribution is crucial and that real-world median wages are falling.
However, India continues to be one of the major economies growing at the fastest rate in the world in spite of these obstacles. India has overtaken the United Kingdom to become the fifth-largest economy in the world, trailing only the United States, China, Japan, and Germany, according to IMF projections. India ranked 11th among large economies a decade ago, while the United Kingdom ranked fifth.
