Mumbai beats Delhi in per capita income

MUMBAI: The per capita income (PCI) of the country's financial capital is a modest Rs 8,000 more than that of the national capital. Mumbai's PCI for 2009-2010 stands at Rs 1.25 lakh, up Rs 15,000 from Rs 1.10 lakh in 2008-09, according to the state economic survey released on Tuesday.

But Mumbai beware—the Delhi state budget, also presented on Tuesday, estimates that the rajdhani's per capita income for 2010-11 will rise to Rs 1.36 lakh from Rs 1.17 lakh in 2009-10.

Pune and Thane, the other two economic powerhouses that make up Maharashtra's golden triangle, weren't far behind Mumbai, both crossing the Rs 1 lakh threshold. Pune's grew by about Rs 15,000 to Rs 1.11 lakh in 2009-2010 while Thane's went up Rs 12,000 to Rs 1.05 lakh.

The success story of Maharashtra dims considerably once you drive out of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The state's per capita income grew a shade under Rs 10,000 to Rs 74,027 in 2009-2010. Take out Mumbai, Thane and Pune, and it drops fairly sharply. (Incidentally, Chandigarh has the highest PCI for a state/union territory at Rs 1.28 lakh, followed by Goa. The national average is Rs 54,527.)

The 32 other districts in Maharashtra combine to turn in a PCI of only a little over Rs 56,000. By itself, this is a decent increase—from the previous year's Rs 43,822—but pales in comparison with that of the Big Three. The bottom-most three districts in the state pool are Washim (Rs 36,087), Nandurbar (Rs 36,203) and Osmanabad (Rs 38,145).