Consumption: A major shift amid modest gains

A long-awaited survey that plugs a glaring data gap points to rising household expenditure, superior diets and a critical change: rural households spending less on food than other items

The Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) shows Indian homes doing moderately better in 2022-23 than in 2011-12. As outlined in a preliminary ‘Fact Sheet,’ fresh results from this survey comes after a gap of 11 years, as the last one in 2017-18 was junked by the government for purported faults after leaked findings indicated a drop in consumption. That had left a glaring data gap, which now stands filled. The most notable direct reading for a country emerging from mass deprivation is that food spending has fallen below the halfway mark even in rural India. The 2011-12 round found that the share of food items in rural average monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) was almost 53%. This shrank to 46.4% in 2022-23. Indian households can finally be said to be spending more on non-food items. This is a major shift. The needy appear less hard-up.