India, Nov. 23 -- Assam continues to remain among the states where families spend the largest share of their household budget on food, even though this proportion has slowly decreased over the past decade.

The latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2023-24 shows clear shifts in spending habits when compared with the 2011-12 data.

The survey reports that rural households in Assam had spent 61.3% of their Monthly Per Capita Expenditure (MPCE) on food in 2011-12-the highest in the country at that time, much above the national rural average of 52.9%.

By 2023-24, the share dropped to 53.2%, yet Assam still holds the second-highest position after Ladakh. This indicates that food continues to take up a dominant portion of rura...