Per capita spending in Orissa among the lowest in India

Even though Orissa has registered a growth rate of 9.57 per cent in the first three years of the 11th Plan (2007-12), outpacing the national average growth of 7.79 per cent in the same period, the monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) of the state, rural as well as urban is among the lowest in the country.

The MPCE, an important socio-economic indicator used for comparing the standard of living and calculating the extent of poverty, for rural Orissa stands at Rs 558.95 compared to the pan-India average of Rs 772.36, says the Economic Survey of Orissa for 2010-11, quoting the 64th round of National Sample Survey (NSS) for 15 major states of the country from July 2007 to June 2008.

 

Kerala, Punjab and Haryana have the highest MPCE (rural) at Rs 1382.92, Rs 1272.53 and Rs 1034.45 respectively.

Similarly, the MPCE (urban) for Orissa is Rs 1189.95, below the national average of Rs 1452.04.

In this category, the state figures fourth from the bottom, just ahead of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Also, the rural-urban divide in Orissa is much more pronounced in Orissa as against national average which has shown a marginal improvement.

While the rural-urban MPCE ratio has somewhat improved from 0.53 in 63rd round of NSS to 0.52 in the 64 th round, the same for Orissa has declined from 0.43 to 0.39.

In the food category, an average Indian spends more than double the amount an average person spends on milk and milk products and in the non-food category, an average Indian spends considerably more on consumer services compared to his counterpart in Orissa.

Higher spending on consumer services indicates a higher standard of living in middle and upper class populations.