New Delhi, June 26 -- On 5 June, the World Bank released an updated estimate of poverty for India, six weeks after the last on 26 April. However, unlike the April release, this one is accompanied by a detailed note on methodology for changes in the global poverty estimate (as well as for India).

For the record, the April estimate was based on the $2.15-per-day poverty line using the 2017 PPP index derived from the International Comparison Programme (ICP) 2017 cycle. For India, it suggested a decline in poverty from 16.2% in 2011-12 to 2.3% in 2022-23.

The latest estimates use the updated 2021 ICP cycle for the PPP index with the extreme poverty line revised to $3 a day. Based on this new poverty line and PPP exchange rates, poverty in I...