India's economic strength lags behind G20 countries; per capita income exposes Narendra Modi government' lofty claims. Credit goes to skillful management of news media
Dr Javed Jamil | Clarion India
OUR leaders are not tired of repeatedly boasting about India achieving the “milestone” of becoming the fifth largest economy in the world, with claims of soon reaching the third position. Unfortunately, the media too does not care to tell the people that the size of the economy of a country is a highly misleading indicator of the real economic conditions of the country and its people.
Being ranked fifth is hardly an achievement to be proud of for a country which now has the biggest population in the world. The focus on the “size” of the economy mainly serves the international market and political forces that consider the size of the population as a key factor for export opportunities.
We have just finished holding the G20 summit and declared it a big win for our country. While there are some points worth being admired, what remains untold is the darker side of our achievements. G-20 is mainly about the economy and not about politics. Now, it will be interesting to see where these 20 members stand in terms of the per capita income.
GDP (in USD) per capita by country (IMF report)
Argentina, 13,709
Australia, 64,964
Brazil, 10,373
Canada, 52,722
China, 13,721
France, 44,408
Germany, 51,383
India, 2,601
Indonesia, 5,016
Italy, 36,812
Japan, 35,385
Mexico, 12,673
Russia, 14,403
Saudi Arabia, 29,922
South Africa, 6,485
South Korea, 33,393
Turkey, 11,931
U.K. 46,371
U.S., 80,034
European union 39,940
When I was compiling this table, it really shocked me that in terms of per capita income, India stands last among all these member countries. India’s per capita income of 2,601 US dollars is significantly less than most other countries, the nearest one being Indonesia with around double our figures. In the light of this disparity, how can then we be proud of our economy?
This becomes even more depressing when we understand the fact that even per capita income is only an incomplete reflection of the real conditions of the people because of the prevailing income inequality in the country. According to reports, the richest 1% of Indians own 58% of wealth, while the richest 10% of Indians own 80% of the wealth. This trend has been consistently increasing in recent years, which means that the rich are getting richer much faster than the poor.
As far as poverty is concerned, according to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) programme, “80 million people out of 1.2 billion Indians (in 2019), roughly equal to 6.7% of India’s population, lived below the poverty line of $1.25 and 84% of Indians lived on less than $6.85 per day.” Still, we are feeling proud of spending huge sums on the bonanza of G-20.
Interestingly, the Opposition parties too seldom raise these basic questions. Why should politicians bother about these figures when the world economy is dominated by market forces? They too want to keep the market forces happy. They would never take a pledge to reduce the percentage of the wealth held by the top one percent. And why should the media bother when it is the same market forces that pamper them?
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Dr Javed Jamil is an eminent Islamic scholar and author. All opinions and views expressed in columns and blogs and comments by readers are those of individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Clarion India
