Food Accounts Largest Share in Consumer’s Spending : NSSO

NSSO’s 66th round of survey household consumer expenditure reveals that Indians are still spending a major chunk of their expenditure on food items. The survey, covering the period from July 2009 to June 2010 shows an average rural household to have allocated 53.6 per cent of its monthly consumption expenditure on food items. The corresponding share for urban household was less, at 40×7 per cent. According to the latest figures on consumption expenditure, per capita consumption expenditure in a month was 88 per cent more in case of urban India compared to rural. India during 2009-10, a trend which was more or less five years ago.

Share of Food in Total Consumption Expenditure (in%)
Year	Rural	Urban
1987-1988	64.0	56.4
1993-1994	63.2	54.7
1999-2000	59.4	48.1
2004-2005	55.0	42.5
2009-2010	53.6	40.6

Per capita expenditure on consumption for the bottom 10 per cent of the people in rural areas was five times less than the top 10 per cent of the people while in case of urban parts, it was 10 per cent less.

Survey results show that cereals still make up the largest chunk of an average Indian household’s consumption budget—15.6 per cent in rural and 9.1 per cent in urban areas.

This is followed by fuel and light (9.5 per cent in rural and 8 per cent in urban), milk and milk products (8.6 per cent and 7.8 per cent), vegetables (6.2 per cent and 4.3 per cent) and clothing (4.9 per cent and 4.7 per cent).

The survey has estimated the all-India average monthly per capita expenditure at Rs. 1,053.64 in rural and Rs. 1,984.46. The States among the top in spending  are Kerala (Rs. 1,835.22 in rural and Rs. 2,412.58 in urban
areas), Punjab ( 1,648.92 and Rs. 2,108.79), Haryana (Rs. 1,509.91 and Rs. 2,321.49) and Maharashtra (Rs. 1,152.79 and Rs. 2,436.75).

The States at the bottom of the consumption chart are Bihar (Rs. 780.15 and Rs. 1,23754), hhattisgarh (Rs. 783.57 and Rs. 1,647.32), Orissa (Rs. 818.47 and Rs. 1,548.36) and Jharkhand (Rs. 825.15 and Rs. 1,583.75).