New Delhi, Feb 9: The BJP has released a factsheet reeling out statistics on household savings and wealth creation in the country to refute the Congress’s claim that under the Modi government real wages have declined and household savings and consumption have fallen while the debt burden and income inequalities are rising.

The factsheet highlights that the increase in household debt is not due to rising indebtedness per borrower but due to a greater number of borrowers, reflecting improved credit access. The sharp decline in net household savings and an increase in household liabilities is because Indians are investing in physical assets (real estate and automobiles).

The increased number of education loans and consumption of experiences are also leading to the trend, it notes.

Countering the Congress claim that income inequality is rising in the country, the factsheet points out that under the Modi government, income brackets have expanded, with an 8.1 per cent rise in the Rs 5–10 lakh bracket and a 3.8 per cent rise in the Rs 10–20 lakh bracket.

The wealth generation has trickled down to rural India with 9 out of 10 rural entrepreneurs being the first-generation entrepreneurs.

As more Indians are investing in real estate, India has seen a 21 per cent rise in the average price of an average residential unit in the top seven cities, it observes.

The factsheet further states that for the first time since independence, average household spending on food was less than 50 per cent of the overall monthly spending because of increased income.

At the all-India level, the urban-rural gap in Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE) has declined to 70 per cent in 2023-24 from 84 per cent in 2011-12 showing the rural-urban divide is narrowing.

Across social groups, MPCE increased across all categories, with the highest growth observed among Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC), reducing historical disparities, it added.

“The Gini Coefficient, which measures inequality in consumption expenditure, has declined across all major states. The bottom 5 per cent of the rural population witnessed a stunning 22 per cent growth in monthly consumption expenditure,” the factsheet states.

Most significantly, even the poorest 5 per cent of households now spend above the poverty line, with rural MPCE at Rs 1,677 against a poverty line estimate of Rs 1,622 as per an SBI Report (based on the Suresh Tendulkar methodology).

Besides, with the implementation of GST, the price of almost all household goods has come down, leading to at least 4 per cent of total household savings as per a survey, the factsheet states.

The BJP said that the Congress’s claim that income inequality in India is worse than during the British Raj is based on a World Inequality Lab report riddled with methodological and data issues.

The quality of life has significantly increased with 97 per cent of households having electricity access, 70 per cent having improved access to sanitation, and 96 per cent having access to safe drinking water as per NFHS-5 (2019-21), it states.

As many as 24.82 crore Indians escaped Multidimensional Poverty in the last nine years and the Poverty Headcount Ratio reduced from 29.17 per cent in 2013-14 to 11.28 per cent in 2022-23.

In addition, 36.3 per cent of individual ITR filers earning less than Rs 3.5 lakh in FY14 have shifted to higher income brackets, with 15.3 per cent each moving to the Rs 3.5-5 lakh and Rs 5-10 lakh groups, and 4.2 per cent moving to Rs 10-20 lakh.

Besides, 21.1 per cent of the gross income from those earning below Rs 4 lakh shifted upwards, with notable gains in the Rs 5-10 lakh (7.1 per cent) and Rs 20-50 lakh (2.9 per cent) brackets, the factsheet observes.

The number of individuals earning over Rs 100 crore also increased from 23 in FY14 to 136 in FY21, but their share of total income dropped from 1.64 per cent to 0.77 per cent, indicating a broader income distribution, it added.

--IANS

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