The 68th round of consumption expenditure survey that started from July 1 this year will have a unique feature this time. For, National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) is planning to come out with the monthly per capita expenditure survey on a quarterly basis, ahead of the release of the full survey that will end by June 30 next year.
This, officials feel, will not only help in getting a better view of the contents, but will also help notice trends emerging on consumption expenditure. “Some key elements of the consumption expenditure survey, including monthly numbers, will now be available on a quarterly basis,” according to a senior NSSO official.
The organisation is working towards ensuring that the monthly consumption expenditure survey is available for public information as soon as possible, he says.
NSSO, the country’s main surveyor, is also planning to equip its field surveyors and officers with laptops and a special custom-made software which would enable them to transmit data to the processing centre real-time and directly.
“At present,” points out the official, “a lot of paper work is involved in collection, collating and transmitting of data, which not only takes time, but also raises questions on the authenticity of the data, but now all these will be avoided through the latest technology.”
The process of arming the field officers with laptops started from the annual survey of industries for 2010-2011 -- an exercise that began this month. “All major research and survey organisations across the world are very sound in their technology. We are also striving to be so,” the officer adds.
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Currently, consumption expenditure figures are available in a gap of five years. The latest data for 2009-10 shows a wide gap in the amount spent on consumption between the poor and the rich across the country, worse the disparity sharpens between these groups in urban areas compared to rural parts. Besides, there is stark inequality in the amount spent on consumption between urban and rural areas, signifying the difference in income level between towns and villages.
On an average, the bottom ten per cent of the population spent 5.6 times less amount on consumption per capita in a month than top 10 per cent in rural areas during 2009-10. However, the disparity increases to 9.8 times when one compares the two classes in urban parts, according to the data, also released by NSSO.
The difference in the amount spent on consumption by the bottom 10 per cent of the population between rural and urban parts is just over Rs 46. In percentage terms, it means that the poorest ten per cent of the people spent 32.29 per cent less in rural parts than their counterparts in urban areas.
However, this inequailty rose to Rs 3,346.56 when one compares top 10 per cent of population in the two parts. This means that the wealthiest 10 per cent of the urban population spent 132.97 per cent more on consumption per capita in a month than its equivalent class in rural areas.
The disparity in consumption pattern could be used to get a guess of income inequality in India. However, income inequality may be much wider since one spends less proportion of his income on consumption as income grows.
Experts say consumption expenditure data is crucial. If frequency of its release increases, it will provide much-needed feedback on various parameters to the policy-makers.