Lifecycle Deficit and Public Age Reallocations for India’s Elderly Population: Evidence and Implications Based on National Transfer Accounts

Abstract

Using the computational framework of National Transfer Accounts, this paper offers new results and explanations on the role of public support to India’s elderly population in 2004–05. New results refer to computed (a) lifecycle deficit (LCD) based on age profiles of aggregate labour income and consumption and (b) public age reallocations based on age profiles of transfers and asset based reallocations. The results show that the LCD of elderly population is about 34% of the LCD of all ages, or 3.74% of GNP. Surprisingly, net public transfers to elderly individuals are strongly negative and asset-based allocations are financed by dis-saving, because the taxes paid by the elderly population substantially exceed the benefits they receive and they pay both interest on previously accumulated public debt and paying off that debt. Public age reallocations finance elderly individuals’ consumption by less than 0.50% and the largest burden of financing public transfers falls on elderly for whom the net public transfers is −13.33% of labour income. The heavy burden on the elderly population is attributable in part to India's tax system and partly on the absence of programs that provide support to elderly individuals. If the present private sector's support for elderly individuals is not sustainable due to changes in the social obligations and in the absence of a universal pension scheme, a reduction in the direct tax outflows for the elderly population may be a policy imperative in India's public age reallocations.