Household Consumption Expenditure Survey

July 5, 2023

GS Paper III Indian Economy

Context:

The Maharashtra government has published the State level findings from the National Statistical Office’s 2017-18 Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES).

The report based on Central sample data is not published by NSO.

About Household Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES):

It is a Survey intended to collect information on the consumer spending patterns of households across the country, both urban and rural.
Frequency of survey: quinquennial (every five years)
Conducted by: National Sample Survey Office (NSSO)
Utility of the Survey:
- The data is used for studies on levels of living in India and for the measurement of absolute poverty, including studies on disparities across States and regions, sectors, socio-economic classes etc.
- It helps to arrive at the estimates of household Monthly Per Capita Consumer Expenditure (MPCE) as well as the distribution of households and persons over the MPCE classes.
- It will be used for rebasing the Gross Domestic Product and other macroeconomic indicators such as retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The last survey was conducted in 2017-18, however the government withheld the results citing quality issues.
The ongoing 2022-23 survey is expected to conclude by the end of July this year.