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

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

When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

RP Gupta a scapegoat to help Govt of India manage fallout of Adani case in US court?

RP Gupta, a retired 1987-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, has found himself at the center of a growing controversy. During my tenure as the Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar (1997–2012), I often interacted with him. He struck me as a straightforward officer, though I never quite understood why he was never appointed to what are supposed to be top-tier departments like industries, energy and petrochemicals, finance, or revenue.

Environmental report raises alarm: Sabarmati one of four rivers with nonylphenol contamination

A new report by Toxics Link , an Indian environmental research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund , a global non-profit headquartered in New York, has raised the alarm that Sabarmati is one of five rivers across India found to contain unacceptable levels of nonylphenol (NP), a chemical linked to "exposure to carcinogenic outcomes, including prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women."

PharmEasy: The only online medical store which revises prices upwards after confirming the order

For senior citizens — especially those without a family support system — ordering medicines online can be a great relief. Shruti and I have been doing this for the last couple of years, and with considerable success. We upload a prescription, receive a verification call from a doctor, and within two or three days, the medicines are delivered to our doorstep.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Revisiting Gijubhai: Pioneer of child-centric education and the caste debate

It was Krishna Kumar, the well-known educationist, who I believe first introduced me to the name — Gijubhai Badheka (1885–1939). Hailing from Bhavnagar, known as the cultural capital of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, Gijubhai, Kumar told me during my student days, made significant contributions to the field of pedagogy — something that hasn't received much attention from India's education mandarins. At that time, Kumar was my tutorial teacher at Kirorimal College, Delhi University.

A sector under siege? War and real estate: Navigating uncertainty in India's expanding market

I was a little surprised when I received an email alert from a top real estate consultant, Anarock Group , titled "Exploring War’s Effects on Indian Real Estate—When Conflict Meets Concrete," authored by its regional director and head of research, Dr. Prashant Thakur. I had thought that the business would wholeheartedly support what is considered a strong response to the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor.

Search This Blog