Statsguru: Six charts show hits and misses after India's independence

India had fewer than 120,000 telephone connections in 1947 for a country of 350 million people. This works out to fewer than four telephones for every 10,000 people. The mobile phone revolution has meant that connections are now close to the population number (chart 1).

The per capita electricity consumption was 16 kilowatt-hours in 1947. One kilowatt-hour is the electricity required to power a single 100-watt light bulb for 10 hours. Per capita electricity consumption rose to over 1,200 kilowatt-hours in 2020 (chart 2).

There has also been a significant improvement in other indicators such as literacy. Four out of five Indians couldn’t read in 1947. Now around 80 per cent are literate. Numbers for some indicators are available from later dates, but also show signs of change. For example, the infant mortality rate improved from 162 in 1960 to 27 in 2020. The average life expectancy thus has risen from 32 years in 1947 to 69.9 years in 2020 (chart 3). A rise in agricultural production has meant that per capita availability of food grains has risen from 144.1 kilograms to 185.4 kilograms per year (chart 4).

India made considerable strides relative to where it was in 1947 as it accumulated more resources to solve its problems, but a global comparison suggests faster progress was possible.

India’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) rose from less than $100 in 1960 to over $2,200 in 2021. A higher value indicates richer citizens. India’s per capita GDP was less than one-fifth of the global figure (17.9 per cent) in 1960. This has only risen to 18.6 per cent as of 2021 (chart 5).

China’s per capita GDP, on the other hand, has seen a rise from 19.5 per cent of the global figure in 1960 to 102.4 per cent in 2021. Some of this could perhaps be explained by its success in global trade. The rise in income has closely mirrored its rising share in global merchandise exports, which rose from 2.1 per cent in 1960 to 15 per cent in 2021. India’s share rose from 1.1 per cent to 1.8 per cent during the same period (chart 6).