East Delhi has the least inequality

WINDOW ON SHOPPING: PART 3

East Delhi, which is one of the country's richer markets (it has sales of Rs 149 crore per sq km), is also one that has the least inequality.

By contrast, Kishanganj, which is among the poorer markets, actually has the highest level of inequality in the country. Ditto for districts like Madhepura in Bihar and Tuensang in Nagaland. In other words, rich does not necessarily mean unequal.

While East Delhi has a total of 1.5 lakh households that earn more than Rs 3 lakh per annum, it has just 2,400 households earning less than Rs 75,000 "� that is, it has just 0.017 low income earning households for every top income earning household.

In terms of per capita income, annual per capita income of the richest households is Rs 1.6 lakh versus the overall district's per capita income of Rs 82,000 "� that is, the richest segment earn about twice the district average.

By contrast, in Kishanganj, which has 138 low income households for every top income one, the richest households (1,900 of them) have a per capita income of over 15 times the district's average.

For Madhepura, per capita income of the richest households is 7 times the district average; while for Tuensang, it is nearly 15 times.

North Delhi, again a relatively rich district with a market density of Rs 62 crore per square kilometre, emerges as the country's second district when it comes to low levels of inequality. It has 2,900 households earning under Rs 75,000 a year and 45,400 which earn over Rs 3 lakh per annum, giving a total of 0.06 low income households for every top income household.

In this district, the richer households (with annual income greater than 3 lakh) earn 2.4 times more than an average household in the district.

From a marketer's point of view, the inequality levels indicate the kind of market that needs to be served since the proportion of rich also decline as the inequality rises. Forty one per cent of East Delhi households earn more than Rs 3 lakh per annum and 53 per cent between Rs 1.5-3 lakh, while in Kishanganj, just 0.6 per cent earn more than Rs 3 lakh and 5 per cent between 1.5-3 lakh.

While generalisations are a risky thing, districts with a lower inequality tend to have higher per capita incomes and market densities. The five least unequal districts in the table have per capita incomes of around Rs 60,000 per year while the five most unequal have a per capita of around Rs 12,000.

Also, districts with high inequality levels have a much larger proportion of affluent households from rural areas as compared to those with low inequality.

For instance, the top two districts in terms of highest inequality levels (Kishanganj and Madhepura in Bihar) have 26 per cent and 80 per cent of their affluent households located in rural areas.

On the other hand, the top two districts in terms of minimum inequality levels (East Delhi and New Delhi) have more than 95 per cent of their affluent households located in urban areas.