Latest news with #HouseholdConsumptionExpenditureSurveys
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Pain remains: on inflation
The continued fall in inflation to a 77-month low of 2.1% in June 2025 should serve as a significant source of relief for policymakers. The general public, however, would not be too thrilled. There is some good news for them, but also a significant dose of pain. Food inflation, for example, saw a significant easing, although that too is a seasonal effect rather than a structural one. Food and beverage prices contracted 0.2% in June 2025 on a high base of 8.4% in June last year. Key items such as vegetables, pulses, spices and meat saw prices falling in June compared to their levels last year. But food is not all that people spend their money on. The data reveal that there were several items and services of common consumption that saw inflation quickening in June. The education and stationery segment saw inflation quicken to 4.4% in June, the highest in 15 months. This was driven by a jump in the prices of school, college, and private tuition. Inflation in the health-care category, too, was at a 15-month high in June. Compounding this, the personal care segment saw inflation jumping to a blistering 14.8% in June, the eighth month of double-digit inflation in the last nine months. Products such as soap, toothpaste, shampoo and sanitary napkins — items of daily or regular use and by no stretch luxuries — have become more expensive. So, overall, food is cheaper, but nearly everything else is more expensive. This leads to an important policy question, one that has been asked several times before: is the headline inflation data adequately capturing the price rise the average Indian faces? The food basket itself carries a 46% weight in the overall Consumer Price Index (CPI), meaning that any change in this category has an inordinate impact on the headline number. The recent Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys show that food comprises a much smaller share of about 30% in the expenditure of households. Bringing the CPI weight of food down to align with this will allow the overall CPI to be more representative. To be fair, that process is on, with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in the process of updating the CPI. The CPI base year — so far set as 2011-12 — is being updated to a more recent time period, and the weights of the different categories are also being revised. This update cannot happen fast enough, as even monetary policy is currently dependent on this outdated and unrepresentative measure. In the meantime, it is important not to get swayed by the fall in the headline number itself. The felt experience of the average Indian is described in the details, and it is still a painful one.
The Hindu
12-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
What is the state of inequality in India?
The story so far: A recent report by the World Bank has generated significant debate with regard to the true picture of inequality in the Indian economy. The report outlined a number of salutary outcomes; not only had extreme poverty reduced drastically, inequality had reduced too. The Gini coefficient — a measure of inequality that ranges from 0 to 1, with 1 indicating extreme inequality — had fallen from 0.288 in 2011-12 to 0.255 in 2022-23, making India an economy with one of the lowest levels of inequality in the world. What followed? This finding was highlighted by the government as a vindication of its growth policies and economic management. However, as plenty of commentators have pointed out, the facts highlighted by the World Bank do not provide a true picture of inequality in the country. While inequality in consumption may be low — which is in itself a contested fact — income and wealth inequality in India are extremely high and have increased over time, making India one of the most unequal economies in the world. What is consumption inequality? The inequality figures detailed by the World Bank are not of income or wealth, but of consumption. This is problematic for several reasons. First, inequality in consumption will always be lower than inequality in wealth or income. A poorer household will spend a majority of its income on the necessities of life, and will have very little savings. If its income doubles, consumption spending will not double, since the household will now be able to save some amount of its income; its consumption levels will not rise in the same proportion as their incomes. Thus, consumption inequality will always be less than income or wealth inequality. Also Read: Does inequality lead to growth? | Explained Second, there are certain problems with the use of databases for the calculation of inequality. Data on consumption spending comes from the Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys (HCES) of 2011-12 and 2022-23. These surveys may provide accurate information on low levels of expenditure, but are unable to capture extremely high incomes, thus providing an under-estimation of inequality. Furthermore, there have been significant methodological changes between the two surveys that render them incompatible, and do not allow for a comparison of inequality levels over time. This has been pointed out not just by several researchers, but the official release of the HCES for 2022-23 also cautions against simple comparisons. What are the levels of income and wealth inequality? The low Gini mentioned by the World Bank, therefore, relates to consumption inequality, and cannot be compared to levels of income inequality worldwide. What is the true level of income inequality? Calculating the actual level of income and wealth inequality in India is extremely difficult, since official surveys tend to miss out on extremely high levels of income and wealth. However, researchers at the World Inequality Database (WID), led by Thomas Piketty, have analysed several sources of data, including national-level surveys, tax records, and published lists of the extremely rich in India, estimating more accurate indicators of inequality. These estimates provide a more sobering look at the state of inequality in India. The Gini coefficient for pre-tax income for India in 2022-23 is 0.61; out of 218 economies considered in the WID, there are 170 economies with a lower level of inequality, making India one of the most unequal economies in the world. The picture is not much better when considering wealth inequality. India's Gini coefficient for wealth inequality is 0.75, implying that wealth is far more concentrated than income or consumption. Even though wealth Gini is high, other countries have far greater wealth concentrations; there are 67 countries with a lower wealth Gini than India. As shown in the figures in Table 1, the Gini coefficient for income has shown a significant rise, from 0.47 in 2000 to 0.61 in 2023. Wealth inequality has risen in a lower proportion, only because levels of wealth inequality have been so high to begin with. The Gini for wealth inequality rose from 0.7 in 2000 to 0.75 in 2023. Either way, the picture of low and falling inequality as outlined by the World Bank does not characterise the current reality of India. In fact, the use of the Gini understates the sheer concentration of wealth occurring in India today. The Gini coefficient is an aggregate measure, and takes into account the entire range of observations. It does not provide information on the relative share of wealth or income held by a fraction of the population. When considering wealth concentration of the top 1%, India emerges as one of the most unequal economies in the world. According to data from the WID, in 2022-23, the top 1% of adults in India controlled almost 40% of net personal wealth. There are only four economies with a higher level of wealth concentration — Uruguay, Eswatini (Swaziland), Russia and South Africa. Is a reduction in consumption inequality on expected lines? The story over the past few decades is one of rising incomes and inequality, and not a reduction. In fact, a reduction in consumption inequality is not unexpected in such a scenario. As incomes rise, assuming that there is no fall in real incomes of the poor (an outcome which some authors such as Utsa Patnaik assert has actually happened), the consumption of the poor would rise in a greater proportion than middle and upper classes, who would be able to save much more out of their rising incomes. The higher incomes of upper classes would allow for greater levels of saving, which can then be transformed into greater levels of wealth. Consumption inequality can reduce even when income inequality and wealth inequality rise; all these outcomes characterise the Indian economy today. What is of significance is the extreme concentration of incomes and wealth that have accompanied growth in India today, making it one of the most unequal economies in the world, an outcome that has consequences for future growth prospects of the economy. Rahul Menon is Associate Professor in the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy at O.P. Jindal Global University.
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Business Standard
08-07-2025
- Health
- Business Standard
Nutrition transition: Focus should now be on diet quality, protein shifts
More importantly, the wide disparities in calorie consumption between the poorest and the wealthiest have narrowed significantly, signalling a welcome reduction in nutritional inequality Business Standard Editorial Comment Mumbai Listen to This Article The National Statistics Office recently released the Nutritional Intake in India report. Analysing the data from the Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys (HCES) for 2022-23 and 2023-24, the study offers several insights into India's evolving dietary patterns. The findings suggest stability in average daily per capita calorie intake, with rural India recording 2,233 kcal in 2022-23 and a marginal dip to 2,212 kcal in 2023-24. Urban India shows a similar plateau, with 2,250 kcal and 2,240 kcal for the respective years. While this seems reassuring, India's nutrition landscape reflects both progress and persistent challenges. A particularly encouraging trend is the improvement
Hindustan Times
03-07-2025
- Health
- Hindustan Times
3 major takeaways from nutritional intake data
... Next Story By Abhishek Jha , Roshan Kishore Jul 03, 2025 08:40 AM IST {{#userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) released its report on nutritional intake in India after more than a decade earlier this week. The latest report gives data for 2022-23 and 2023-24. To be sure, the nutritional intake surveys are essentially extrapolated numbers using quantities of food items consumed as seen in Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys (HCES). HT has already reported that the latest report largely shows an improvement in nutritional intake between 2011-12 and 2023-24. This key takeaway notwithstanding, there are some other interesting trends in the report. Here are three charts that summarise them. File picture {{^userSubscribed}} {{^usCountry}} {{/usCountry}} {{#usCountry}} {{/usCountry}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{^usCountry}} {{/usCountry}} {{#usCountry}} {{/usCountry}} {{/userSubscribed}} SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
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Business Standard
02-07-2025
- Health
- Business Standard
Milk product intake rises as cereal, pulse consumption dips: Govt report
Intake of cereals and pulses came down in both rural and urban areas, while consumption of milk and its products showed an increase in 2023-24, according to a government report. The Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys (HCES) conducted during August 2022 July 2023 and August 2023 July 2024 showed that the consumption of egg, fish and meat has gone up in rural areas, though it remained the same in urban areas. The study showed the proportion of cereals in the consumption has decreased from 38.8 per cent in 2022-23 to 38.7 per cent in 2023-24 in urban areas. In the case of rural India, the proportion has decreased from 46.9 per cent to 45.9 per cent. For pulses, the proportion of consumption declined from 9.6 per cent to 9.1 per cent in urban areas and from 8.8 per cent to 8.7 per cent in rural areas. On the other hand, the proportion of milk and its products in the diet in urban areas increased from 12.8 per cent to 12.9 per cent, while in rural areas it rose from 10.6 per cent to 11 per cent. As regards eggs, fish and meat, the proportion in the diet rose from 12.3 per cent to 12.4 per cent in rural areas while it has remained at the same level at 14.1 per cent in urban areas. The proportion of 'other food' items rose from 21.4 per cent to 22 per cent in rural areas and 24.8 per cent to 25.3 per cent cities. The study showed that the average per capita per day calorie intake in rural India was 2233 Kcal and 2212 Kcal in rural India 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively, while the corresponding figures for the two years in urban India were 2250 Kcal and 2240 Kcal, respectively. An increase in average per capita per day and per consumer unit per day calorie intake is observed for the bottom five fractile classes in rural India and for the bottom six fractile classes for urban in 2023-24 from 2022-23. A wide variation both in average per capita per day calorie intake and average per consumer unit per day calorie intake is observed among the major states in 2022-23 as well as in 2023-24. With an increase in the Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE), the average calorie intake also increases in rural as well as urban India. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
