Steps to Equalise per capita Income Across the States

The per capita income level of States depends on a number of factors which include resource endowments, historical background of development, infrastructure and various other state specific factors. The increase in per capita income is directly related to growth rate in income at national or state level as per capita income is calculated by dividing national/state income with the corresponding total population. This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Planning, Shri Rao Inderjit Singh in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

The Minister said that the Government has taken several measures to improve the growth performance of all the States in a balanced manner. The policy instruments in this regard include plan and non-plan transfer of resources from Centre to States favoring less developed States, tax incentives for setting up of private industries in the backward regions, etc. A number of programmes have also been initiated to reduce income disparity between States. These include Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF), Hill Area Development Programme/Western Ghats Development Programme, and Border Area Development Programme, etc. In addition, several centrally sponsored schemes and state specific schemes are being implemented which are expected to accelerate the growth rate of income of various states.

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