Gujarat's consumer expenditure "not commensurate" with the state's growth rate: Official document

By A Representative
Latest information from a well-placed Gujarat official source has revealed that Gujarat’s private consumer expenditure is not commensurate with the overall growth the state has been experiencing. Suggesting dormant capacity of private consumers as compared to many other states, the data – as found reflected in a top document yet to be made public – suggest that in 2011-12 Gujarat’s gross state domestic product (GSDP) at current prices was 611,767 crore, but the private consumer expenditure formed Rs 287,661 crore, or just about 47 per cent of the GSDP. If the data are any indication, this was the lowest percentage spent by an individual state in proportion to its GSDP.

Rs crore at current prices

According to a World Bank definition, “Household final consumption expenditure (formerly private consumption) is the market value of all goods and services, including durable products (such as cars, washing machines, and home computers), purchased by households.” Government officials admit, this suggests that while Gujarat’s growth rate may be “robust”, but when it comes to actual consumer spending, things are not as rosy as they seem on the surface. “Either Gujaratis are not good spenders, or they do not have enough purchasing power compared to at least richer comparable states”, a senior official told Counterview on condition of anonymity.

As percentage of GSDP, Gujarat’s private consumer expenditure was below than such comparable states having good GSDP growth like Andhra Pradesh (66 per cent), Haryana (48 per cent), Karnataka (61 per cent), Kerala (68 per cent), Maharashtra (50 per cent), Punjab 63 per cent), Tamil Nadu (59 per cent), and so on. Significantly, Gujarat’s GSDP was 6.79 per cent of the all-India gross state domestic product (Rs 9,009,722 crore), while private consumer expenditure was 5.6 per cent of the country’s, which was Rs 5,141,896 crore in 2011-12).

The document admits, in the long term a fall in the “share of private consumption expenditure to GDP at market prices” suggests lack of buoyancy, adding, there is a need to increase the “share of private consumption expenditure to GDP.” The poor “share of final consumption expenditure”, in fact, also reflects, according to the document, poor share of services in “the final consumption expenditure.” Suggesting the problem is universal for all progressive states, the document suggests, poor development of the service sector is responsible for this. It would adversely affect on taxes proposed to be levied on goods and services in the form of goods and services tax (GST).

While officials do not admit it in so many words, actually, the data are a reflection of poor spending capacity of Gujarat’s population. In the rural areas, the monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) of Gujarat was Rs 1,536, which is lower than eight major Indian states out of 1s7 states selected for analysis by the National Sample Survey (NSS), India’s premier statistics gathering organization. The all-India average MPCE is Rs 1,430 for the rural areas. Similarly, in the urban areas, while Gujarat’s MPCE at Rs 2,581 is lower than eight other states, what is particularly shocking is, the all-India average MPCE is higher than that of Gujarat , at Rs 2,630.

Comments

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Ahmedabad's Sabarmati riverfront under scrutiny after Subhash Bridge damage

By Rosamma Thomas* Large cracks have appeared on Subhash Bridge across the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, close to the Gandhi Ashram . Built in 1973, this bridge, named after Subhash Chandra Bose , connects the eastern and western parts of the city and is located close to major commercial areas. The four-lane bridge has sidewalks for pedestrians, and is vital for access to Ashram Road , Ellis Bridge , Gandhinagar and the Sabarmati Railway Station .

Farewell to Robin Smith, England’s Lionhearted Warrior Against Pace

By Harsh Thakor* Robin Smith, who has died at the age of 62, was among the most adept and convincing players of fast bowling during an era when English cricket was in decline and pace bowling was at its most lethal. Unwavering against the tormenting West Indies pace attack or the relentless Australians, Smith epitomised courage and stroke-making prowess. His trademark shot, an immensely powerful square cut, made him a scourge of opponents. Wearing a blue England helmet without a visor or grille, he relished pulling, hooking and cutting the quicks.

No action yet on complaint over assault on lawyer during Tirunelveli public hearing

By A Representative A day after a detailed complaint was filed seeking disciplinary action against ten lawyers in Tirunelveli for allegedly assaulting human rights lawyer Dr. V. Suresh, no action has yet been taken by the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, according to the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

Latur’s quiet rebel: Dr Suryanarayan Ransubhe and his war on Manuvad

By Ravi Ranjan* In an India still fractured by caste, religion, and language, where narrow loyalties repeatedly threaten to tear the nation apart, Rammanohar Lohia once observed that the true leader of the bahujans is one under whose banner even non-bahujans feel proud to march. The remark applies far beyond politics. In the literary-cultural and social spheres as well, only a person armed with unflinching historical consciousness and the moral courage to refuse every form of personality worship—including worship of oneself—can hope to touch the weak pulse of the age and speak its bitter truths without fear or favour.

Differences in 2002 and 2025 SIR revision procedures spark alarm in Gujarat

By A Representative Civil rights groups and electoral reform activists have raised serious concerns over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Gujarat and 11 other states, alleging that the newly enforced requirements could lead to large-scale deletion of legitimate voters, particularly those unable to furnish documentation linking them to the 2002 electoral list.

The Vande Mataram debate and the politics of manufactured controversy

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The recent Vande Mataram debate in Parliament was never meant to foster genuine dialogue. Each political party spoke past the other, addressing its own constituency, ensuring that clips went viral rather than contributing to meaningful deliberation. The objective was clear: to construct a Hindutva narrative ahead of the Bengal elections. Predictably, the Lok Sabha will likely expunge the opposition’s “controversial” remarks while retaining blatant inaccuracies voiced by ministers and ruling-party members. The BJP has mastered the art of inserting distortions into parliamentary records to provide them with a veneer of historical legitimacy.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

From crime to verdict: The 27-year journey that 'rewarded' the destroyers of Babri Masjid

By Shamsul Islam Thirty-three years ago, on December 6, 1992, a 16th-century mosque was reduced to rubble by a frenzied mob orchestrated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its political fronts. The demolition was not a spontaneous outburst of Hindu sentiment; it was the meticulously planned culmination of a hate campaign that branded Indian Muslims as “Babur-ki-aulad” and the Babri Masjid as a symbol of historical humiliation.

Search This Blog