India per capita income still very low: ADB

India which despite being a trillion dollar economy which now has increasing number of billionaires in the country, has a growing sensex, has been ranked low and is behind four countries in Asia in terms of per capita income, a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report said. Brunei topped the list of Asia's richest economies by per capita income and Hong Kong emerged as the biggest spender. Nepal, meanwhile, was the region's poorest by both measures. The report is part of the World Bank’s 2005 International Comparison Programme (ICP), a data standardization project for 146 countries that will make evaluating incomes and expenditures across the globe easier.

Brunei is followed by Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Apart from Nepal, the poorest countries include Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos and India. The study covered 23 economies, excluding Japan, South Korea and East Timor.

The latest study, in which India and China took part together for the first time, uses the Hong Kong dollar as the base currency and 2005 as the base year. China meanwhile, ranked above average with its per capita income of 23,267 Hong Kong dollars ($2,986).

The study has ranked countries in terms of per capita gross domestic product (GDP), actual final consumption expenditure (AFCE) and gross fixed capital formation (GFCF). AFCE is the sum of consumption expenditures by households and government, and according to ADB is the best available measure of household living standards; GFCF measures the investment levels in the economy.