Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta has said that by 2046-47, the average per capita income (PCI) of states could reach high-income thresholds if the country's two-decade-long growth trajectory persists. Gupta noted that states falling below the median are projected to drive a significant portion of this expansion, reinforcing the broad-based nature of India's growth story.
She stated ‘Realising and accelerating the path to this potential, however, would require moving towards state-specific growth strategies that are anchored in local strengths, structural realities, and their respective stages of development.’ India's economic growth has consistently accelerated since the early 1980s. Average real gross domestic product (GDP) growth has increased from 5.7% in the 1980s to 5.8% in the 1990s, 6.3% in the 2000s, 6.6% in the 2010s, and reaching 7.7% in the most recent four-year period. The pace of growth is even more pronounced in per capita income.
Per capita income has grown from about $274 in 1981 and $306 in 1991 to nearly $2,700 in 2024, marking almost a 10-fold increase. She mentioned ‘Importantly, while it took over two decades for per capita income to double initially, it has expanded by almost five-fold in the subsequent two decades, indicating a clear structural shift in growth momentum.’
