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Exercises · Q2

Q.Explain the difference between National Income at Market Price and National Income at Factor Cost.

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✓ Free question

National Income at Market Price values output at the prices actually paid by the final buyer — prices that include indirect taxes (such as GST) levied by the government and are reduced by any subsidy the government pays to keep a price low.

National Income at Factor Cost strips out this government wedge and measures what is actually earned by the owners of the factors of production — wages, rent, interest, and profit — for their contribution to production:

Factor Cost=Market Price−Net Indirect Taxes,Net Indirect Taxes=Indirect Taxes−Subsidies\text{Factor Cost} = \text{Market Price} - \text{Net Indirect Taxes}, \quad \text{Net Indirect Taxes} = \text{Indirect Taxes} - \text{Subsidies}

The distinction matters in practice: because indirect tax collections can rise or fall for reasons unconnected to how much producers actually earn, market-price figures alone can be misleading about producer income — factor-cost figures are the ones directly tied to factor incomes, and it is NNP at Factor Cost that India officially calls National Income.

✓Final answer

Factor Cost = Market Price minus Net Indirect Taxes (Indirect Taxes minus Subsidies); Factor Cost reflects what producers actually earn, Market Price reflects what buyers actually pay.

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