Overview
- Food’s share of monthly per‑capita expenditure fell below 50%, with rural at 47.0% (from 52.9%) and urban at 39.7%.
- Per‑person monthly spending on durables jumped to ₹540 from ₹170 in rural areas and to ₹877 from ₹315 in cities.
- Motor vehicles were the fastest‑growing asset, with ownership rising to 59% in rural households (from 19%) and 68.2% in urban households (from 40.1%), and rural rates surpassing urban in states such as Haryana, Telangana and Punjab.
- Mobile phones reached near‑universal ownership—96.5% rural and 97.7% urban—while television ownership stagnated and declined in many cities.
- The bottom 40% sharply narrowed asset gaps with the top 20%, households without any durables fell to 5% or less, and state disparities persisted, with Sikkim leading rural durable spend (₹1,448) and Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand lagging in refrigerator access among rural B40 homes.