GDP data: Per capita income and consumption expenditure fall to 2018-19 levels

Indian residents cut back in their consumption expenditure sharply as their income fell, jobs were lost and sentiments dented by the uncertainties brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic during 2020-21. The shopping frenzy during the festival and wedding season was not enough to make up for the loss on spending in the first half of the fiscal year, national accounts data released on May 31 show.

Restrictions placed on mobility, the opening of shopping complexes and delivery of non-essential goods by e-commerce companies would also have contributed to the fall in spending during the year.

Provisional estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) show that the per capita income measured in current prices had contracted 4% from a year ago. In response, consumer spending fell more sharply, by 7%. The national income at current prices had contracted 3%. The country’s population is estimated to have risen by 14 million between 2019-20 and 2020-21.

The national accounts data show that the per capita income at current prices, also known as per capita net national income (NNI), for 2020-21 at Rs 1,28,829 was just a shade above the levels estimated for 2018-19. The per capita NNI for 2018-19 was estimated at Rs 1,25,883.