Ashish's Niti: India's poor economic performance

India's poor economic performance

October 13, 2004

I was reviewing some historical economic data on GDP, Population and per-capita GDP for various countries in the World. I knew that India lags behind many Asian countries in terms of GDP and per-capita GDP. But the magnitude surprised me! I compared the figures for 1950 (when India became a Republic) and 2000 for various Asian countries. Here are the tabulated results (some of figures could have been rounded. Blame MS Excel):

Table 1: Year 1950

Country	Population (000 at mid-year)	GDP (millions)	Per Capita GDP
China - Chine	546815	239903	439

India - Inde	359000	222222	619

Indonesia - Indonésie	79043	66358	840

Japan - Japon	83805	160966	1921

South Korea - Corée du Sud	20846	16045	770

Thailand - Thaïlande	20042	16375	817

Taiwan	7981	7378	924

Hong Kong	2237	4962	2218

Malaysia - Malaisie	6434	10032	1559

Singapore - Singapour	1022	2268	2219

Table 2: Year 2000

Country			Per Capita GDP

	Population (000 at mid-year)	GDP (millions)
China - Chine	1,264,093	4,329,913	3,425
India - Inde	1,007,702	1,924,297	1,910
Indonesia - Indonésie	210,875	675,503	3,203
Japan - Japon	126,700	2,669,450	21,069
South Korea - Corée du Sud	47,261	677,871	14,343
Thailand - Thaïlande	62,352	395,046	6,336
Taiwan	22,151	368,635	16,642
Hong Kong	7,116	152,980	21,499
Malaysia - Malaisie	21,793	171,553	7,872
Singapore - Singapour	4,152	92,198	22,207

Table 3: Comparison between 1950 and 2000.

Country	Population ratio	GDP	Per Capital GDP
	(2000/1950)
		Ratio (2000/1950)	Ratio (2000/1950)
China - Chine	2.332401	19.04849	8.166901
India - Inde	2.851226	9.014378	3.16158
Indonesia - Indonésie	2.71122	10.5156	3.878547
Japan - Japon	1.514134	16.30483	10.76842
South Korea - Corée du Sud	2.284371	43.54758	19.06327
Thailand - Thaïlande	3.143804	24.55921	7.81194
Taiwan	2.794441	49.01477	17.5401
Hong Kong	3.223292	30.89198	9.583983
Malaysia - Malaisie	3.455041	17.1861	4.974211
Singapore - Singapour	4.207435	39.83862	9.468626

What is India's excuse for such a dismal economic performance? Large population? No, because China had more population than India in 1950 and 2000! Hong Kong and Singapore had increased their population by a ratio of 3.2 and 4.2 resp. while India increased her by 2.85. The China's GDP grew by 19 times in 50 years while the figures for Hong Kong and Singapore are 30 and 39 resp. British looted us? China, and South Korea were terrible in 1950. China had a bloody civil war and resulting rise of communism, while South Korea was invaded before by Japan, and ravaged by war with North Korea.

Other than our failed economic policies (Nehru and Indira Gandhi are to be blamed here) I cannot find any other explaination! The facts and figures are just too dammning!

The Excel spreadsheet has this note regarding the source of the data:
* Source: Virtually all the data are derived from The World Economy: Historical Statistics,
OECD Development Centre, Paris 2003, which contains detailed source notes.
See also The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective, OECD Development Centre, Paris 2001.
Figures for 1820 onwards are annual, whereever possible. For earlier years,
benchmark figures are shown for 1 AD, 1000 AD, 1500, 1600 and 1700.
Figures for 1820 onwards are annual, wherever possible.

For updates of the GDP and per capita GDP figures beyond 2001,
readers may find it helpful to refer to the ggdc database (http://www.ggdc.net/)

Update: I tried to format the tables so as to fit within the margins. Thanks for all those who gave feedback on the page problems. Unfortunately, I could not make the tables better than this. Any help will be appreciated.

Posted at 08:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)