Lockdown hit: 84% of Indian households record dip in their income

In an alarming number, the lockdown to battle coronavirus has reduced the income of 84% Indian households, with 34% of them starring at poverty like situation in a week's time.

According to the new data set to put out by the Rustandy Centre for Social Sector Innovation, in collaboration with the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the worst-hit categories are the household with per capita income ranging between Rs 3,801 per month and Rs 8,142 per month.

As many as 92.7% of the households with per capita monthly incomes between Rs 5,914 and Rs 8,142 have seen a loss in the income.

For the households who have per capita monthly income between Rs 3,801 and Rs 5,914, 91.6% of the households have seen their incomes dip.

The least affected category has been the households with monthly per capita income ranging between Rs 12,374 and Rs 1.02 lakh -- with only 66.3% of the households reporting dip in the income.

Rural households have been disproportionately negatively impacted due to the lockdown. About 88% of rural households report a fall in income under the lockdown, compared to 75% of urban households. This pattern is driven both by exceptionally high losses among the middle three quintiles of rural households as well as relatively higher losses among the highest income quintile among rural households, the paper said.

Shockingly in the per capita income group of Rs 12,374 and Rs 1.02 lakh, rural households have seen a high dip of 81.3% in the incomes, compared with just 54.7% in the urban areas.

Poverty to rise

The situation which may be akin to poverty will arise soon, as 34% of all households report being able to survive for no more than one week without additional assistance. Given the low baseline wealth of many households, a very large share of Indian households state that they will be unable to continue — even over relatively short periods — without additional assistance, the report said.

"We find a sharp and broad negative impact on household income — with nearly 84% of Indian households reporting decreases in income since the lockdown. Further, households have limited ability to cope with the current economic climate — only 66 percent of households report currently having the resources to go on for more than another week," Kaushik Krishnan, Chief Economist at CMIE and one of the authors of the paper told DH.