[binand]

Originally Posted by Gsynch

Kerala's poorest district Malappuram has a per capita income of 1.6L...

This can be misleading. Malappuram sends the maximum number of NRKs abroad (18% of total NRKs, highest among all districts; second place Calicut is around 11%) - so a very large chunk of money in the district comes via remittances. That is not included in the calculation of per capita income.

In fact the district can be observed to be quite rich.

[akkosetto]

I would like to give credit to TN for their excellent public transportation facilities, which surely reduced the need to rely on cars. From what I’ve seen unlike KaSRTC volvo’s, TN ticket rates are affordable too.

KerSRTC on other hand seems researching how to move more people to cars nowadays.

[Gildarts]

TN's low car ownership shows how good public transport and road infrastructure influence car buying decisions. Don't need it? Don't buy it.

[Asoon]

There are multiple external factors and hence the heat map of ownership does not take us to definitive conclusions, few pointer mentioned below :

- High penetration does not necessarily mean high disposable income (Income / Capital in these states)

- Climate plays an important role, there are states with less income but higher car ownership as one cannot travel in two wheeler in winters, the same is reflected in the car ownership of european / other countries where temperature reaches sub zero and there is not other option

- Public transport is one of the topic which came in the previous posts, however, I have a different view here, Having car in India is still a luxury and a status symbol at I do not think there is a single state in India where public transport is so goo that people let go of their cars [its possible in some cities where people let go of their 2nd or 3rd car but that will hardly have affect on the penetration.

[Gsynch]

Originally Posted by binand

I can barely read the second word ("Brains") in the top right corner.

The infographic was done by the teams at https://tradebrains.in/

Full credit to them!

As an aside - They have some really cool research going on their website.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by binand

This can be misleading. Malappuram sends the maximum number of NRKs abroad (18% of total NRKs, highest among all districts; second place Calicut is around 11%) - so a very large chunk of money in the district comes via remittances. That is not included in the calculation of per capita income.

In fact the district can be observed to be quite rich.

Offtopic.

The huge population of the ditrict brings down the numbers. Explains why it is placed even lower than Wayanad in GDP per capita. Add to that a good chunk of the remittances is still via hawala channels. So, for official records the income maybe less though flashy cars and mansions dot the towns.

Surprised that Kozhikode has the second most number of NRKs. A few years back, there were atleast 3-4 districts above Kozhikode in the listing. Guess, lots of other socio-economic factors. NRKs from Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam districts have seen a huge drop over the years, while others like Kollam have seen a huge increase in number of NRKs.

[driver52001]

In Manipur, there's a saying, a hostel friend used to say long back - "You don't have food in the house, but there's money for a Kinetic Honda." Keeping up with the Khanna's, as Hayek said, is likely the reason for high car ownership in some places.

[RotBohnen]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Haha - I can relate to this. We have three cars in our garage and yet keep a scooter. The scooter is Jan 2021, its literally just crossed 1000 kms last month, after 21 / 22 months ownership (that’s barely 45 kms per month averaged out). Yet, it remains invaluable for our short trips, within a 2 km radius. Can’t imagine letting it go just because of its low usage.

Many families genuinely love their two wheelers for this reason even in crowded cities and are just happy using public transport or a cab when they have the need.

This is the truth. Living in urban cities esp in Bangalore where road infrastructure is a decade or more behind current needs, a two wheeler is way more practical than a car. My commute is easily twice as long if I drive to work versus taking the bike. For shorter trips a scooter remains unbeatably quick and first choice, no matter what is in the garage.

[satyaanveshi]

Originally Posted by binand

Combine that with the downfall of the private bus industry and the annihilation of KeSRTC by the powers that be, and creaking railway infrastructure that is sometimes slower than the roads - it is no surprise that people want to buy their own vehicles

A bit OT but any pointers on the "downfall of the private bus industry" in Kerala? Last I checked, there seemed to a lot of private buses providing urban/local public transport services, at least in Ernakulam district.

[Dr.Car]

Originally Posted by Gsynch

Attachment 2394623

Anand Mahindra has too tweeted this morning. Some interesting observations:

1. Border states have higher car ownership. Either

- they have higher disposable income due to lower spending opportunities, or
- public transport is poor/not many available, so have to rely on own transport
- using it to sell in to neighbor countries

While I do agree with some of your points but the third point is definitely not true. I live in Punjab and there's nothing like 'selling car to neighbouring country' here.

Even though people do have higher disposable income but it isn't because of lower spending opportunities at all. Might be true for some border states like J&K etc. (Due to current conditions) but not for others. If I talk about Punjab, then one of the reasons why people keep buying so many cars has to do with the new car culture being developed for the last approximately 10 years (Either due to Punjabi Songs showcasing luxury cars or general improvement in lifestyles of people) Come to any big city of Punjab like Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar you'll find all sorts of cars from Lambos to Mercs to Bimmers and finally Marutis also! Also, with the relatively better road infrastructure than other states it's quite a joyful experience to have a car here.

Perfectly agree with you on the second point but one of the reasons for that is the lower population size (But still Public transport is need of the hour considering the future). Thanks

[lina]

Originally Posted by binand

Combine that with the downfall of the private bus industry and the annihilation of KeSRTC by the powers that be, and creaking railway infrastructure that is sometimes slower than the roads - it is no surprise that people want to buy their own vehicles.

I do not agree with this. It is a lot faster to travel across the state by rail. Try doing a drive from Kochi to Kozhikode by car, it will take you 5+hours while most trains will do it in 4 and some even around 3 hours. While the KSRTC has never been the greatest state transport corporation, the bus network in general is quite reliable even in cities.

Another point I want to make is about roads. While the roads are not made for speed, the surface of the roads is usually butter smooth. Even inland village and panchayath roads are usually very reliable. As someone who drives primarily in Bangalore it astonishes me how good the road surface in Kerala is. Most roads are also well marked with reflectors and paint.

People buy cars in Kerala because they are rich. Just like how they build fancy houses, they buy cars and lots of them.

[binand]

Originally Posted by satyaanveshi

A bit OT but any pointers on the "downfall of the private bus industry" in Kerala?

Here is a starting point - two articles in The Hindu dated about 1 year apart. Mostly coverage of this issue is in the vernacular press though (I can see some articles in Onmanorama / Mathrubhumi English).

https://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...le35660495.ece
https://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...le65570459.ece

2000 - 35,000 buses
2022 - 15,000 buses

To put that in perspective - between 2001 census and 2022 estimate the population of the state grew by 35L (from 3.18Cr to 3.53Cr).

Originally Posted by lina

I do not agree with this. It is a lot faster to travel across the state by rail.

Certainly, we can agree to disagree - I only said "it is sometimes slower", not always and I also had door-to-door travel times in mind.

Remember that Kerala's rail network skips several population centres (for example, major towns like Malappuram and Muvattupuzha and entire districts of Wayanad and Pathanamthitta do not have any presence on the rail network).

Originally Posted by lina

People buy cars in Kerala because they are rich. Just like how they build fancy houses, they buy cars and lots of them.

No arguments here. The remittance economy is very strong and gets undercounted in usual economic metrics.

[anandhsub]

When looking at households, I wonder how much of a difference the number of people in an household makes.

I am sure one of the reasons for the low ownership in TN is that the size of a family is very small, mostly nuclear ( husband, wife and 1 kid) and hence it is very easy to live with just a two wheeler.

However there is definitely a cultural element. When I shifted to Bangalore for work from Chennai way back in 2008, it didnt even cross my mind to buy a car until I got married 7 years later given there was nothing I could do with a car that I couldnt with a bike.

On the other hand for a couple of my friends who joined with me their major saving goal was a down payment for a car and then an EMI that was higher than the rent I used to pay.

[lina]

Originally Posted by binand

Certainly, we can agree to disagree - I only said "it is sometimes slower", not always and I also had door-to-door travel times in mind.

Remember that Kerala's rail network skips several population centres (for example, major towns like Malappuram and Muvattupuzha and entire districts of Wayanad and Pathanamthitta do not have any presence on the rail network).

The point Im trying to make here is that Kerala has a good railway network wrt other states. Far far better than Karnataka where until recently most routes were serviced only by single-line dieself tracks. Kerala is mostly double-track with complete electrification now.

Few districts missing from the railway network is common in all states. That wont have any significant impact on the car ownership. Infact I wont be surprised if the places with maximum rail and bus infra will have maximum car ownership (namely ernakulam and kottayam districts).

And nitpicking here but Thiruvalla is in Pathanamthitta which has the main double-electrified kottayam railway line going through it.

[VinsWagen]

Roads are not so good in Kerala. And it's not just about surface conditions, the width is lower, vehicle density is higher, and almost the entire network is unplanned - In other places, I have seen towns and cities built around straight, planned roads whereas, in Kerala, it's like the roads have to be built squeezing in through the towns, houses, and natural terrains resulting in twists, turns, and curves. There are just a handful of roads in Kerala where we can see more than say 200 meters ahead. However, I think cars are much more aspirational in Kerala. Every family would like to get a car, at least an Alto, if they can barely afford it. We also have a fascination for building big houses. A huge part of life's investments and loans are spent on building houses that are bigger or more ornamental than what is needed. I would think this is a common nature of Middle-class and they form the majority in Kerala. Kerala has very few ultra-poor and ultra-rich compared to other states - and the middle class spent the maximum on houses and then vehicles.