Delhi is proving to provide growing investment opportunities, as the per capita income in the metropolis has almost doubled to over Rs 1.16 lakh during six years till 2009-10, reveals a study by an industry chamber.
Only Goa and Chandigarh show better statistics in this respect. Income inequalities continue to exist in the national capital, but they have become less stark over time, according to a CII report on investment climate in Delhi.
It was at a compounded annual rate of 13.7 per cent that Delhi’s per capita income grew over the six years from Rs 61,560 in 2004-05 to reach Rs 1.16 lakh. The national per capita income, on the other hand, during 2009-10 was Rs 46,492 — one-third of Delhi’s. Then for 2010-11, the national per capita income went up to Rs 54,835.
However, the Gini coefficient (2004-05), an index to measure inequality, was at a somewhat reasonable level at 0.33 for urban and 0.26 for rural. It was lower than the average inequality at the national level. The 2004-05 Gini coefficient for the country’s urban areas was 0.37; it was 0.30 for rural.
The higher inequality in urban Delhi can be attributed to the fact that its 97.8 per cent population is urban. Gini coefficient ranges between 0 and 1, with the former implying perfect equality and the latter perfect inequality.
Gini coefficient for Delhi compares well with other major cities in the world, though it is worse than Beijing. Beijing had Gini coefficient at 0.22 in 2003, Shanghai at 0.32 in 2004-05 and Washington at 0.53 in comparable years.
Delhi’s GDP grew by 10.3 per cent in 2009-10, driven largely by the services sector — to Rs 1.65 lakh crore — contributing 3.7 per cent to the national GDP.
Tertiary sector, besides, its sub-sectors like trade, hotels, transport, communication, finance, insurance, real estate and business services, contributed 83.7 per cent to the state GDP in 2009-10 — up from 80.5 per cent in 2004-05. The tertiary sector is also the highest contributor to the national GDP at over 55 per cent (excluding construction).
Agriculture, expectedly has a minuscule share — of 0.6 per cent — in Delhi’s GDP.
The 2006 human development index showed the capital city having topped the Indian states and union territories in education. It ranked 4th on the human development index, but was way down — at the 14th position — where health is concerned.
The share of health sector in the total plan expenditure of the state government declined from 11 per cent in 2004-05 to 9.4 per cent in 2008-09. Yet, the expenditure stood at 8.1 per cent (for 2009-10) as against 4.2 per cent for all the states.
Infant mortality rate for Delhi remained lower than the national average over the years. It was estimated at 33 per 1,000 live births, as against 50 per 1,000 live births nationally in 2009. The overall literacy rate in Delhi was 86.3 per cent, which was higher than the national average of 74.0 per cent. In Delhi, male literacy was 91.0 per cent, while female literacy was 80.9 per cent. All India male and female literacy rates were 82.1 per cent and 65.5 per cent, respectively.
Out of Delhi’s total schools, 58 per cent were private, while 42 per cent were government-run. Delhi houses 4.4 per cent of the country’s total universities. As for the percentage of expenditure on education of the total plan expenditure by the state government, it increased from 8.5 per cent in 2004-05 to 10.3 per cent in 2009-10.
Exhibiting the success of privatisation of power distribution in Delhi, the peak power deficit decreased from 9.2 per cent in 2002-03 to 1.5 per cent in 2010-11 owing to capacity additions & improvement in transmission & distribution losses. T&D losses significantly reduced in Delhi to 28.7 per cent in 2007-08 as against 48.6 per cent in 2005-06. However, the T&D losses in Delhi were still higher as compared to national average of 25.5 per cent. Peak supply increased to 4,739 Mw in March 2011, as against 3,101 Mw in 2002-03. Load-shedding was brought down to 0.6 per cent in 2008-09.
The state attracted investment intentions worth Rs 271 crore during 2009-10 against Rs 76 crore the previous year. Of the total outstanding investments of Rs 1,14,210 crore as of March 31, 2010, the services sector (excluding financial services) had the highest share of investments at 76.5 per cent. This could be attributed to the Commonwealth Games approaching in 2010.
The state’s gross fiscal deficit increased to 1.8 per cent of the state GDP in 2009-10 compared to 0.5 per cent from 2005-08 (average).
