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

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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.