India, March 1 -- India may be misreading retail inflation data after the most recent Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2022-23, released on February 23, 2024, revealed that the percentage of expenditure on food and cereal consumption of an average family has declined sharply.

Spending on discretionary items such as durable goods like televisions and refrigerators has risen dramatically over the past decade or so, the consumption data showed. At the same time, Indians are spending less on food, particularly cereals like rice and wheat.

The share of food in rural Indians' household budgets dipped below the 50% mark for the first time in 2022-23 since 1950-51, when the data began to be collected, the results of the long-awai...