Rural India too reaping benefits of economic growth:Study

By agencies   |   Friday, 15 April 2005, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI:Incomes in rural India are growing faster than in urban areas, a study by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) said. While urban incomes are growing at 3.2 percent per annum, rural incomes are rising by 4.5 percent a year. In 1994-95, three years after the country started economic reforms, the average rural income was 55-58 percent of the average urban income. By 2001-02, it was up to 63-64 percent and in 2004-05 estimates are that the figure would touch 66 percent, or roughly two thirds of urban income. In 2001-02, 35 percent of India’s 60-million middle class lived in the villages. By 2009-10, India is likely to have a middle class population of 154 million, one-third of which will be from villages, the study added. And villages will have their fair share of the creamy layer too, NCAER estimates suggest. The numbers of those with a household income of over Rs 10 lakh per annum are projected to increase from 4 million in 2001-02 to 21 million by the end of this decade, with rural India accounting for 22-23 percent of this population