According to the IMF, the estimated GDP per capita of India in 2008 was $1,016. Other sources like the World Bank and the CIA are in a similar ball park.

When allowing for differences in the cost of living, the IMF estimate for GDP per capita at "purchasing power parity" (PPP) is $2,762.

India has a fast growing middle-class, but also a high-proportion of people living in poverty. The demand for things like cars, computers and TVs is growing fast, but there are still huge sections of the population that are illiterate and struggling to even survive. On some measures the number of people living in poverty in India is of the same order as that in the whole of Africa.

It has been said that with the huge success of some Indian industries, esp software, India is in danger of becoming a country that looks like pieces of California dropped into the middle of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The contrasts even in a single city like Bangalore are striking.

For more info on living standards in different countries, check the Wikipedia entries listed below. I have checked them and their sources and they are very trustworthy.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2009/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=200...

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2009/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?pr.x=2...

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html

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