Indians spend more on durable goods than on food, says survey

The average Indian populace is compromising on nutritious food for durable consumer goods according to the National Sample Survey’s statistical report — Key Indicators of Household Consumer Expenditure in India — 2011-12.

The report, released by Chief Statistician and Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Secretary T C A Anant, showed that the average expenditure by Indians on food containing nutritious items such as cereals, vegetables and edible oil reduced drastically across India, while spending on non-food items, mainly durable goods shot up almost one-and-half times.

While in rural India, the average consumer expenditure on food slid from 63.2 per cent in 1993-94 to 48.6 per cent in 2011-12, and in urban areas, it slipped from 54.7 per cent in 1993-94 to 38.5 per cent in 2011-12.

 Non-food expenditure

The non-food expenditure in rural areas has increased from 36.8 per cent in 1993-94 to 51.4 per cent in 2011-12. In urban areas, non-food spending has gone up from 45.3 per cent to 61.5 per cent.

Anant said: “We collected samples from all districts in India to prepare the survey report, the 68th round of ninth quinquennial round on the subject,” adding, “Surveys are normally quinquennial, but the 66th round of surveys were conducted in 2009-10, considering the global recession in mind. Based on expenditures, he noted that there is a sharp increase in urban expenditure, which is 84 per cent higher than rural expenditure, pointing to divergent consumption among urban and rural populace.”

Likewise, according to the survey on Key Indicators of Employment and Unemployment in India 2011-12, the percentage of casual labour in rural area remained much higher than urban areas.

The surveys were conducted in 7,469  villages and 5,268  urban blocks across India including Union Territories. The NSS collected samples from 1,01,724 households including 59,700 in rural area.