Rafath

Top 10% of Indians earn 57% of national income. The remaining 90% earn 43%. GDP per capita of India is about $2,700. If you set aside the top 10%, the balance 90% has an implied GDP per capita of only about $1,300. That is below the national averages of Pakistan and sub Saharan Africa. It shows how much the national average is pulled up by the top. If you are not among the top 150 million and are part of the remaining 1.3 billion, daily life is extremely hard for a very large share of people. Because 150 million is itself a huge number, the country looks more prosperous than it is for most citizens. As the Indus Valley report from Blume Ventures pointed out, around 1,000 million Indians have almost no room to spend beyond very basic needs. They are not a market for discretionary goods. Public support matters a great deal for survival at that level. As a country, we have a very long way to go. Loving the country does not mean ignoring reality. Some people say that in every country only the top 10% thrive and the rest struggle. That does not make India typical. India is unusual in both the depth of poverty and the concentration of income. I mentioned that the top 10% of Indians earn about 57% of national income. In countries such as Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and France, household survey data put the top 10% closer to around 25% of national income. Even in the United States, survey data put that share near 30%. Below are approximate GDP per capita figures for 10 large rich countries. The first number is the national average, meaning total income of the country divided by its whole population. The second number is a rough figure for the bottom 90%, meaning what the average looks like if you leave out the richest tenth. In these countries the second number stays high. In India it collapses. United States: $89,105 and $68,800 Germany: $55,911 and $47,100 United Kingdom: $54,949 and $45,100 Canada: $53,558 and $45,800 France: $46,792 and $41,200 South Korea: $34,642 and $28,000 Japan: $33,956 and $27,900 Italy: $41,091 and $33,700 Australia: $64,547 and $52,300 Spain: $36,192 and $31,900 We not only create less income and wealth per person, and what we create is far more concentrated.