India - India's per capita income increases to Rs 33,283: CSO

NEW DELHI: Backed by robust economic growth, India's per capita income has increased to Rs 33,283 in 2007-08 indicating an overall improvement in
the living standards of the people.

Rising by almost 60 per cent since 2003-04, India's per capita income, which indicates what an average person earns, has increased to Rs 33,283 in 2007-08, reveals the quick estimates of national income released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) on Friday.

The country's per capita income, has been growing at an annual rate of over 10 per cent since 2003-04, it said.

According to the data, the per capita income, after taking into account population growth, increased to Rs 33,283 during 2007-08 from Rs 29,524 in the previous fiscal.

The per capita income, increased by 12.7 per cent (at current prices) during 2007-08, while country's population inched up by 1.4 per cent to 1.38 billion by the end of the fiscal.

The double-digit growth in the per capita income during the five successive years comes in the backdrop of impressive economic growth recorded by the country during that period.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate, which was 8.5 per cent in 2003-04, dipped to 7.5 per cent in the next year. However, since 2005-06, India has been recording an economic growth rate of nine per cent or more.

Economy grew by 9.5 per cent in 2005-06 followed by an even higher rate of 9.7 per cent during the next fiscal. Even during 2007-08, which witnessed a deceleration in the growth rate, economy expanded by 9 per cent.

The growth rate, however, is expected to decline to 7 per cent during the current fiscal primarily on account of the impact of the global financial meltdown on the country.

As per the recent projections of the Reserve Bank of India and the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, the growth rate was likely to dip to 7 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively, during the current fiscal.