India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by around 8.6% during the year-ending March 2011, while per capital income — an indicator of how rich the citizens are — grew by 6.7% to Rs 3,000 per month per person, according to government’s quick estimates. GDP and per-capita income had grown by 8% and 6.1% during the previous year.
“The growth rate of 8.6 per cent in GDP during 2010-11 has been due to the growth rates of over 8 per cent in the sectors of ‘manufacturing’, ‘construction’, ‘trade, hotels, transport and communication’, ‘financing, insurance, real estate and business services’,” the ministry of statistics said in a statement.
Another out-performer was agriculture, which defied a drought in a sixth of the country to grow at 5.4% during 2010-11, compared to previous year’s growth rate of 0.4 per cent.
Per capita or average citizen income at current prices (without accounting for the loss of value of money) reached Rs 4,544 per month this year, a jump of 17.3%. The jump, however, has to be reduced to account for inflation of nearly 10% a year.