Poverty Continues To Decline In India Despite Covid Pandemic, Reduced To 8.5 Per Cent, Says NCAER Report

Poverty in India has reportedly fallen from 21.2 per cent in 2011-12 to 8.5 per cent in 2022-24, despite economic hardships caused due to Covid-19 pandemic. This finding has come from a research paper by Sonalde Desai of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).

The paper has been titled as 'Rethinking Social Safety Nets in a Changing Society.' This paper has utilised data from the newly completed Wave 3 of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) as well as from Waves 1 and 2 of the IHDS.

The paper highlights IHDS findings showing that poverty has significantly declined from a headcount ratio of 38.6 per cent in 2004-2005 to 21.2 per cent in 2011-12, and has continued to decline to 8.5 per cent by 2022-24.

The paper also stresses upon the importance of adapting social protection systems to match the pace of societal changes for equitable development. During times of economic growth, long-term poverty determinants may decrease, while life events like natural disasters, illness, death, and occupational changes may become more significant.

Earlier this year, NITI Aayog CEO B V R Subrahmanyam stated that the latest consumer expenditure survey indicates poverty has dropped to 5 percent, with increasing prosperity in both rural and urban areas.

He said, "If we take the poverty line and inflate it with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to today's rate, we see that the average consumption of the lowest fractional, the 0-5 per cent, is about the same. This means poverty in the country is there in the 0-5 per cent group only."

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released household consumption expenditure data. It shows that per capita monthly household expenditure in 2022-23 has more than doubled compared to 2011-12.