THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ernakulam has become the first district in Kerala to register an annual per capita income based on gross district value added (GDVA) at constant prices of Rs 2 lakh.
An Ernakulam resident on average earned Rs 2,02,863 in 2022-23, up 5.9% from the previous year’s Rs 1,91,611, showed a quick estimate released by the economics and statistics department. The state averaged Rs 1,74,214.
Coincidentally, Ernakulam’s GDVA — the measure of total output and income in the economy — also crossed Rs 70,000 crore, the first district in the state to achieve the feat. Ernakulam’s GDVA stood at Rs 70,695.80 crore in 2022-23, against Rs 66,533.04 crore in 2021-22.
Ernakulam district was followed by Alappuzha district with a per capita income was Rs 1,95,819, which was up 5.72% from a year earlier. Kollam stood third, at Rs 1,80,948, up 4.74% year-over-year. Wayanad had the lowest per capita income, at Rs 1,04,302.
The 2022-23 rankings were mostly unchanged from the previous year’s, with only Kannur bettering its position from eighth to seventh, in the process pushing Thiruvananthapuram down one rung.
‘Trade & hotels’ hurts Tvm
Even as much of Kerala rebounded from the Covid slump, Thiruvananthapuram district failed to keep pace, data showed. At Rs 1,45,215, the average income of a resident in the capital district in 2022-23 was nearly Rs 7,000 lower then the figure of Rs 1,51,872 for pandemic-marred 2020-21. In 2021-22, the district posted Rs 1,37,949.
The drop in per capita income was the result of lower economic output. The district’s GDVA dropped from Rs 51,127.54 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 49,255.48 crore in 2022-23. This was Rs 46,617.06 crore in 2021-22
The data shows that the fall was due to decline in the ‘trade and hotels’ sector.
The sector’s contribution to the GDVA declined from Rs 17,036.31 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 8,466.20 crore in 2022-23.
“Low consumption expenditure could be a major reason for weakness in the trade and hotels sector,” said Dr Jins Varkey, assistant professor in economics, St Aloysius College. “This is a crucial sector where the velocity of money is high, and the resulting consumption would lead to a multiplier effect and a bustling economy,” he said.