The gross domestic saving in India refers to the current transfers from the net income from abroad and Indian emigrants. The national saving rate in the early 1950s was around 10%, which became 17% in the early years of 1970s. The national saving rate increased and became more than 25% in the mid-1990s. It should be noted that private saving during this period has contributed the maximum in the total domestic saving. Interestingly, the public saving has been following a declining trend in the total saving since the early years of 1980s. In India, the rate of private saving was 8.6% in 1950-55 and that increased to 13.8% in 1970-75. In the year of 1990-98, the rate of private saving has become 22.8%.
The private saving rate experienced a whooping increase in the 1950s and 1960s when compared with the increase rate during the late 1960s to early 1980s. From 1980s again the rate of saving has been showing a significant growth in India.
If we compare the savings behavior in India with the savings behavior of the neighboring countries, then we come to know that the saving rate in India in the 1960s was even higher than the saving rate of Singapore, Korea and Taiwan. In the early years of 1970s, the saving rate of India was much lower than the saving rate of the HPEA (High Performing East Asian Economies) countries. By the mid years of 1990s, the saving rate of India has increased to a little over the half average rate of the HPEAs.
