Recent remarks by leaders of corporate India have sparked an interesting public debate.
Their general point is that if India wants to become a developed nation, people will have to
work 70 hours a week or more. Assuming a six-day work week, this translates to 700
minutes per day on employment-related activities. So far, the public discussion has mostly
focused on efficiency versus quantity of work. Though this is an important aspect, it is
imperative to first understand how things stand on the ground by studying the available data.
That is, how much time is spent on employment-related activities across states, different
economic sectors, types of enterprises, rural versus urban differences, and differences
across genders and social groups within the country. In addition, this note also provides
evidence of the association between time spent on employment-related activities and the per
capita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) at constant prices.
