The Hindu : Business : Share of food in household budget continues to fall: NSSO survey

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Thursday, Nov 24, 2005

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Share of food in household budget continues to fall: NSSO survey

Special Correspondent

Average urban consumer spending exceeds that of rural by 88 per cent

More urbanites switch to LPG as cooking fuel Falling share of kerosene for lighting in rural households Kerala tops in per capita household spending

NEW DELHI: The share of food in the average monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) continued to show a decline in the latest survey carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).

For the urban population, the average MPCE of Rs. 1,060 comprised Rs. 441 for food and Rs. 619 for non-food items as against rural India where the average MPCE of Rs. 565 comprised Rs. 305 for food and Rs. 260 for non-food, indicating that the decline in the share of food in total expenditure seen over the past several rounds continued, according to the 60th round of NSSO survey on Household Consumer Expenditure in India. The survey was conducted between January and June 2004. The share of food in rural areas was 54 per cent compared to 64 per cent in 1987-88 and in urban areas 42 per cent compared to 56 per cent during 1987-88.

Yawning gap

The average urban MPCE exceeded the average rural MPCE by 88 per cent during the period under reference. However, since urban price levels are higher than the rural prices, the differential would be narrower in real terms.

During the survey period, about half of the rural population of India had MPCE below Rs. 470, while 20 per cent spent less than Rs 340 per capita per month. In the urban population, 82 per cent had an MPCE above Rs. 500 and the amount was more than Rs. 1,500 for 18 per cent.

In the rural sector, among the major states, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar had MPCE less than Rs. 450, while Kerala had the highest of Rs. 990, followed by Punjab at Rs. 947. In the urban areas, among the major states, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh had MPCEs less than Rs. 800, while Kerala had the highest at Rs. 1,372. The survey was conducted randomly on 29,631 households spread over 4,755 villages and 2,699 urban blocks covering the entire geographical areas of the country.

The proportion of urban households using LPG as cooking fuel rose to 56 per cent in the first half of 2004 as against 47 per cent in 2000-01, while in rural areas, the proportion increased to nine per cent from seven per cent in the same period.

Similarly, the proportion of rural households using kerosene as primary source of energy for lighting fell to 46 per cent in January-June 2004 from 48 per cent in 2000-01 while in the urban households, the percentage fell to seven from nine per cent.

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