Since Narendra Modi took office, India's economy is growing rapidly. However, Indians living in roadside can be easily seen even in capital New Delhi./ Photographed by Ha Man-joo

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By Ha Man-joo, India correspondent, AsiaToday - India's poverty rate in 2012 is estimated at 12.4% and is ranked at the eighth place among 10 countries having large number of poor population, Indian media outlets reported on Tuesday citing a latest World Bank report. According to the report, India accounted for the largest number of poor people.

The figure came out using the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO)'s new methodology of poverty estimation. NSSO applied a new methodology of measuring monthly per capita household consumption expenditure (MPCE). In the previous methodology, the MPCE was based on household consumer expenditure on each item for a reference period of the past 30 days. In the newly modified methodology, household consumer expenditure on food is recorded for the past 7 days. Expenditure on items of clothing and bedding, footwear, education, and medical care is recorded for the past 365 days, while expenditure on all other items is recorded for the past 30 days. When applied the previous methodology, India's poverty rate stands at 21.2%.

According to the World Bank's report, the world's 10 poorest countries are mostly in sub-Saharan African continent with Madagascar as the world's poorest country with poverty rate of nearly 80%. The Democratic Republic of Congo is ranked second, followed by Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, and China.

The bank projects that global poverty will fall from 902 million people or 12.8% of the global population in 2012 to 702 million people or 9.6% of the global population this year.