New Delhi, Jan. 31 -- Consumption inequality declined between 2022-23 and 2023-24, as spending among poorer classes increased at a faster rate than among richer classes in both rural and urban areas. This was also true for social groups, with spending by Scheduled Tribes (ST), Scheduled Castes (SC), and Other Backward Classes (OBC), increasing faster than that for non-SC/ST/OBC groups, data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Thursday shows.
The NSO released the full report of the second round of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) conducted in 2023-24 on Thursday. The HCES - its first round was conducted in 2022-23 -- is a revised format of the Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CES) conducted up to 2011-12. The...