About

• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) decided to conduct two consecutive surveys on household consumption expenditure during 2022-23 and 2023-24, once the situation normalized after the Covid-19 pandemic. 
• HCES is designed to collect information on consumption and expenditure of the households on goods and services. 
• The survey provides data required to assess trends in economic well-being and to determine and update the basket of consumer goods and services and weights used for the calculation of the Consumer Price Index. 
• Data collected in HCES is also used to measure poverty, inequality, and social exclusion. 
• The Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE) compiled from HCES is the primary indicator used for most analytical purposes. 

Important Findings of HCES: 2023-24 

• The average MPCE in rural and urban India in 2023-24 has been estimated to be Rs. 4,122 and Rs. 6,996, respectively without taking into account the values of items received free of cost by the households through various social welfare programmes.
• Considering the imputed values of items received free of cost through various social welfare programmes, these estimates become Rs. 4,247 and Rs. 7,078 respectively, for rural and urban areas. 
• In nominal prices, the average MPCE (without imputation) in 2023-24 increases by about 9% in rural areas and 8% in urban areas from the level of 2022-23.
• The urban-rural gap in MPCE has declined to 71% in 2022-23 from 84% in 2011-12. It has further come down to 70% in 2023-24 that confirms sustained momentum of consumption growth in rural areas.
• When ranked by MPCE, the increase in the average MPCE in 2023-24 from the level of 2022-23 has been the maximum for the bottom 5 to 10% of India’s population, for both rural and urban areas.
• Consistent with the trend observed in HCES:2022-23, non-food items remain the major contributor to the household’s average monthly expenditure in 2023-24 with about 53% and 60% share in MPCE in rural and urban areas respectively.
• Beverages, refreshments and processed food continue to have the major expenditure share in 2023-24 in the food items basket of the rural and urban households. 
• Conveyance, clothing, bedding & footwear, miscellaneous goods & entertainment and durable goods have a major expenditure share in non-food expenditure of the households in both rural and urban areas. 
• The Gini coefficient has declined to 0.237 in 2023-24 from 0.266 in 2022-23 for rural areas and to 0.284 in 2023-24 from 0.314 in 2022-23 for urban areas.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2088390