Shillong, July 23: The country’s national income and per capita national income have risen in the last three years although the variation of the increase differed from state to state, the Lok Sabha was informed yesterday.
The northeastern states, including Sikkim, have also witnessed a rise in their per capita income. However, compared to its counterparts in the region, Sikkim is the only state with a six-figure per capita income in 2012-13 and 2013-14. Assam and Manipur have earned the distinction of being placed at the bottom of the list.

“The national income, measured as net national income at market prices, and per capita national income, measured as per capita net national income at market prices, of the country have been increasing during the last three years,” Union minister of state for statistics and programme implementation (independent charge) Gen. (retd.) V.K. Singh told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

He said the estimates of the national income and per capita income for the current financial year would be released in February 2016.

The break-up of the estimates of per capita income, measured as Per Capita Net State Domestic Product, at current prices for the last three years and corresponding percentage change over the previous year, reveals that Assam and Manipur are at the bottom among states of the region.

In other words, while the per capita income has been increasing for Assam and Manipur, like in any of the states, the variation of the increase has been diverse.

In 2013-14, Sikkim recorded per capita income of Rs 1,76,491 while Assam and Manipur recorded figures of Rs 44,263 and Rs 41,573 respectively.

In 2014-15, Assam recorded a figure of Rs 49,480 while Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya recorded figures of Rs 96,199, Rs 85,544 and Rs 69,516 respectively.

The figures tabled in the Lok Sabha were those provided to the ministry of statistics and programme implementation by the respective directorates of economics and statistics of the states and Union territories.

Among the 33 states and Union territories, Puducherry recorded the highest figure of per capita income in 2014-15 at Rs 1,75,006 followed by Tamil Nadu (Rs 1,28,366), and Uttarakhand (Rs 1,15,632). During the same financial year, the figures for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were Rs 40,373 and Rs 36,143, respectively. 

The reasons for the low per capita income in Assam and Manipur have been attributed to rising population, slow economic growth and risky investment climate. 

Dilip Barua, former principal of Cotton College and economist, told The Telegraph that Sikkim, Manipur and Assam cannot be compared because of the size of their respective population and prevailing investment climate.

“The state gross domestic product divided by the state’s population mainly determines the per capita income. The population of Assam and Manipur is much higher than that of Sikkim, one reason for the less-than-expected per capita income. Secondly, there are law and order issues in these two states which slow down the inflow of investment despite the efforts of the state governments to woo investors. More emphasis on outcome budgeting has also become imperative” Barua said.

He, however, cautioned against determining the health of a state only by its per capita income. “ If the per capita income is triggered by monetary growth (price level) rather than real growth, it is not the real indicator of a state’s economic health,” Barua said.

A government official said Assam’s growth rate in 2007, 2008 and 2009 was more than the national average but somehow

Assam could not sustain it. “It’s not that Assam is not growing, but rising population has neutralised the growth. Private investment has not picked up and government hasn’t infused funds into the economy to sustain the growth. Dispur is spending around Rs 22,000 crore annually on salary bills. This has to change for per capita income to rise in Assam,” the official said. 

Additional reporting by our Guwahati bureau