The National Council of Applied Economic Research has released numbers about the number of Indian households at different income levels, for 2001 and 2010. I couldn't find the paper online with a quick search, but there's a story here. (The headline is a bit polemical, but whatever)
I tabulated the numbers:
| Number of Households (millions) | ||||
| 2001 | % | 2010 | % | |
| Low income | 65.2 | 34.6% | 41 | 18.0% |
| Middle income | 109.2 | 58.0% | 140.7 | 61.6% |
| High income | 13.8 | 7.3% | 46.7 | 20.4% |
| Total | 188.2 | 228.4 | ||
Low income is defined as being under 45k INR p.a. (~1k USD today, nominal), while "high" income is 180k INR/~4k USD, where all numbers are at 2001 prices. I don't know if household composition changed any over the past ten years, but I imagine it isn't a huge effect.
Sounds to me like the optimistic narrative re Indian economic growth isn't that far off...
You 'cat quote' is most true.
We'ins been sayin' fur years, ain't nothin' hates a cat like a cat.
Posted by: Tor | October 14, 2010 at 01:04 PM
Ooooops, methinks moi hast misread rat as cat; nope, me knows moi misread. Me said to iself.....moi...
Posted by: Tor | October 14, 2010 at 01:06 PM
This seems to be a book http://www.sagepub.in/browse/book.asp?bookid=1497&Subject_Name=&mode=1#abt
There is at least one earlier edition http://www.businesswireindia.com/PressRelease.asp?b2mid=15050
Posted by: gaddeswarup | October 16, 2010 at 06:27 AM