Use of durable goods by Indian households:

Transcription

1 Report No Use of durable goods by Indian households: th quinquennial survey of consumer expenditure NSS 50th Round National Sample Survey Organisation Department of Statistics

2 PREFACE The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) has been carrying out all-india surveys quinquennially on consumer expenditure and employment & unemployment since 27th round of socio-economic surveys. The fifth quinquennial survey on the subject was conducted in the 50th round of NSS (July June 1994) using an all-india sample of households located in 6951 villages and 4650 urban blocks. On the basis of the consumer expenditure survey data, seven reports dealing respectively with level and pattern of consumer expenditure, consumption of some important commodities, nutritional intake, dwellings occupied, energy used, sources of household income and adequacy of food intake have already been published. The present report is the eighth of the series. This report deals with household consumption and possession of durable goods in India during The status of on possession of durable goods on the date of survey is presented in great detail for 36 different items. Estimates of per capita consumer expenditure on durables are also provided separately for 13 different items, for the major states. The field work of the survey was done, as usual, by the Field Operations Division of the Organisation. The collected data was processed by the Data Processing Division of NSSO and tabulated by the Computer Centre of the Department of Statistics. The report has been prepared by the Survey Design and Research Division (SDRD) of the NSSO. I am thankful to the members of the Governing Council, Heads of various Divisions of the NSSO, the Executive Director, Computer Centre, and their colleagues for their contributions in preparing the report. Comments/suggestions from the readers will be most welcome. New Delhi Officer Date: September 1997 Organisation P.R. Dongre Chief Executive National Sample Survey

3 Contents Highlights Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Sample design 4 Chapter 3 Concepts & definitions 10 Chapter 4 Possession of durable goods 13 Chapter 5 Expenditure on durable goods 28 Appendix Detailed tables A1 - A126 Table 1R Table 1U Table 2R Table 2U Table 3R Table 3U Possession of durable goods by decile group of rural population all states & u.t. s Possession of durable goods by decile group of urban population all states & u.t. s Expenditure on different items of durable goods per person for a period of 30 days major states Expenditure on different items of durable goods per person for a period of 30 days major states Lower limits of different consumption decile groups all states & u.t. s Lower limits of different consumption decile groups all states & u.t. s A-1 A-51 A-102 A-114 A-125 A-126

4 Highlights This report deals with household consumption and possession of durable goods in India during In this report, data on possession of durable goods on the date of survey is presented in great detail, with proportion of possessor households and average number possessed per household given for 36 different items of durable goods for each state/u.t. TV sets ( TV here includes VCR/VCP) were owned by 40% households of urban India and 7% households of rural India in Percentage of urban households owning TV/VCR/VCP varied from 25% to 64% for the 15 major states. In rural areas, the percentage was 40% for Punjab and 24% for Haryana, but only 2-7% in 10 of the major states. The percentage of TV/VCR/VCP owners exceeded 8% in even the poorest 10% (lowest decile group) of the urban population and was nearly 25% in the third decile group. Among the richest 10% (top decile group) of urban population, nearly 28% households possess motorcycles or scooters, compared to 10% for the top decile group of rural India. Motorcycle/scooter" and "TV/VCR/ VCP were, in , the most important durables in urban India in terms of per capita expenditure, while bicycles held the top position in rural India. The percentage of rural households with bicycles was lowest in Kerala, low in all the southern states and highest in Punjab (74%) where it exceeded the percentage of urban households owning bicycles. Per capita expenditure on bicycles was more or less the same - around Rs per month - in rural and urban India. Repairs, not purchase, formed the major component of this expenditure - Rs per month in rural areas and Rs.0.81 in urban areas. Radios were possessed by a greater proportion of households in Kerala than in any other major state. Tape recorders were present in 18-19% of rural households in Kerala and Punjab but by less than 9% in all other major states. Clocks or watches were present in more than a quarter of rural households and nearly two- thirds of all urban households in India in Less than 10% of rural households owned a pressure cooker in 12 of the major states. In urban areas of all major states except Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, more than a quarter of all households owned pressure cookers. While both rural and urban areas of Punjab had around 82% households possessing electric fans, rural-urban disparities in this respect were very wide

5 in all other states. In urban areas the lowest possession rate was 38% (Bihar). Rural areas of all but 4 major states had less than 22% households possessing electric fans. The rural areas of some major states, e.g. West Bengal, Orissa and Kerala, showed greater expenditure on aluminium utensils than on stainless steel. In the urban sector Kerala was the only major state with greater expenditure on aluminium utensils than stainless steel. Possession of stoves was most common in Gujarat, Punjab and Maharashtra among the major states. Rural-urban differences in proportion of possessor households were low in case of bedsteads (69% for rural India as a whole and 74% for urban India) and also low for bicycles (33%, rural; and 37%, urban). The refrigerator, on the other hand, was present in 12% of urban households but only 1% of rural households.

6 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.0 This report, which deals with possession and purchase of household durables, is the eighth based on a household consumer expenditure survey of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), carried out during as part of the 50th "round" of NSS. In this survey, the household consumer expenditure schedule was canvassed in households located in 6951 villages and 4650 urban blocks spread over the entire geographical area of the country. 1.1 Contents of the present report: This report deals with household consumption and possession of durable goods in India during In this report, data on possession of durable goods on the date of survey is presented in great detail, with proportion of possessor households and average number possessed per household given for 36 different items of durable goods (following the detailed classification used in the household consumer expenditure schedule) for each state/u.t. Such data are, further, given separately for 10 fractile groups of population of each state and u.t. Estimates of per capita consumer expenditure on durables and proportion of households incurring expenditure during the "last 30 days" are given separately for 14 different durables, for the major states. Expenditure on purchase and expenditure on construction or repair are, moreover, shown separately. cassettes and musical instruments, jewellery and ornaments, clocks and watches, household utensils and appliances for cooking, heating, cooling, and other work such as sewing, vehicles for personal transport, fluorescent tubes and lamps, and other electrical and sanitary fittings. 1.3 Notwithstanding the very wide range of commodities termed durable goods, this class of goods accounts for only a small proportion of household expenditure of the Indian population as a whole; the same is true for all the major states. NSS surveys since the 43rd round estimate this proportion at about 3-4% (NSS report no. 400). In the 50th round survey, the proportion of households reporting any expenditure on durables during the last 30 days was only about 25% in both rural and urban areas of the country. Monthly per capita expenditure on durables was estimated at Rs 15 in urban India and Rs 8 in rural India. 1.4 On the other hand, proportion of household expenditure incurred on durable goods goes up very sharply as level of per capita household expenditure increases. Thus the 50th round survey reveals, for instance, that the top 5% of the urban population of India spent about Rs 198 per 1.2 Durable goods used for household purposes include furniture and fixtures, recreational goods such as cameras, TV, 1

7 person per month on durable goods, the next 5%, less than Rs 27, and the lowest 5%, only 41 paise. The study of variation of expenditure on durable goods with level of overall per capita expenditure is therefore of considerable importance. For specific durable goods such as TV sets or refrigerators (say), the pattern of variation in expenditure, or in proportion of possessing households, as income or MPCE level varies, would conceivably be of some value to those engaged in production and distribution of the commodities in question. 1.5 The schedule: The household consumer expenditure schedule used for the survey collected information on quantity and value of household consumption with a reference period of last 30 days preceding the date of interview. To minimise recall errors, a very detailed item classification was, as usual, adopted to collect information, including 190 items of food, 25 items of clothing and footwear, 20 items of educational and medical expenses, 66 items of durable goods, and about 111 other items. For items of clothing, footwear, and durable goods, on which consumption expenditure by individual households varies widely from month to month, data with a reference period of "last 365 days" were also collected. For each item of durable goods listed in the schedule, information was collected on expenditure incurred on the item separately for purchase and construction-and-repair using the two reference periods. The schedule also collected some other household particulars including age, sex and educational level of each household member. 1.6 Other information on durable goods available from this survey: NSS 50th round estimates of per capita expenditure on durables as a group were presented in NSS report no. 402 for each state/u.t., separately for different segments of population demarcated by MPCE level In report no. 404, per capita expenditure estimates were given, again for durables as a group, for different "fractile groups" of population of the 15 "major states" such as bottom 5%, next 5%, next 10% in order of MPCE. Report no. 404 also gave state/u.t. level estimates of per capita expenditure on the durable goods group using a reference period of 365 days in addition to the estimates based on a 30 days reference period. Notes 1. The National Sample Survey: The NSS was set up in 1950, with the idea of having a permanent survey organisation to collect data on various facets of the economy through nationwide sample surveys in order to assist in socio-economic planning and policy-making. The NSS is a continuing survey in the sense that it is carried out in the form of successive "rounds", each round usually of a year's duration covering several topics of current interest in a specific survey period. At present each NSS round reaches, at the all-india level, about 12,000 to 14,000 villages and blocks in the Central sample (covered by the Central agency NSSO) and an independent sample of about 14,000 to 16,000 villages and blocks in the State sample (covered by the Governments of various states and union territories). The entire area of the country - rural and urban - is covered, with the exception of some interior areas of Nagaland and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Ladakh and Kargil districts of Jammu & Kashmir. In the 50th round, certain other districts of Jammu & Kashmir, viz. Doda, Anantnag, Pulwama, Srinagar, Badgam, Baramula and Kupwara, and Punjab's Amritsar district, had to be excluded from the survey due to unfavourable field conditions. 2. Household consumer expenditure survey: It was originally the practice to collect data on household consumer expenditure in every round of NSS, start ing from the very first round ( ). From

8 , according to a decision of the Governing Council of NSSO, the consumer expenditure survey became a quinquennial feature. It was also integrated with the employment and unemployment survey in the sense that a common sample of households was subjected to both the enquiries. An annual series of smallerscale consumer expenditure surveys was again launched from the 42nd round ( ) to fill the data gaps which planners and researchers had begun to fee l. It is the larger-scale quinquennial surveys, however, which are expected to be most useful for the study of trends in the level of consumer expenditure and of the emergence of new spending patterns. The five quinquennial surveys of consumer expenditure have been those of the 27th, 32nd, 38th, 43rd and 50th rounds of NSS. They relate, respectively, to the years , , 1983, and

9 Chapter 2 Sample design 2.0 Sample Design: A stratified two-stage sampling design was adopted, with census villages as first stage units (fsu's) in the rural sector and Urban Frame Survey (UFS) blocks in the urban, except for a few newly declared towns of the 1991 census, for which UFS frames were not available, and census enumeration blocks (EB's) were used as first stage units. Households formed the second stage units in both rural and urban sectors. 2.1 The survey period of one year was divided into four sub-rounds of three months each and equal numbers of sample villages and blocks allotted to each sub-round. 1 July - Sept 1993 sub- 2 Oct - Dec 1993 rounds 3 Jan - Mar Apr - June Sampling frame for fsu's : In the rural sector, the sampling frame was provided sometimes by the 1981 census list of villages and sometimes by the 1991 census list of villages, depending on the sub-round (see para 2.1) and the state/union territory being surveyed, as follows In the following areas of rural India (hereafter referred to as Group A areas), the 1981 census lists of villages served as the sampling frame for all 4 sub-rounds : Jammu & Kashmir - where the 1991 census was not conducted. Agra district of U.P. and Durg, Sagar and Morena districts of M.P. - for whic h the available information for 1991 was incomplete In the following areas of rural India (hereafter referred to as Group B areas), the 1991 census lists of villages served as the sampling frame for all 4 sub-rounds : 4 Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Kerala, Orissa, West Bengal & Chandigarh. U.P. and M.P. (excepting Group A areas) In the remaining states/u.t.'s of rural India (hereafter referred to as Group C areas), the 1981 census lists of villages were used as sampling frame for sub-round 1 and the 1991 census lists used for sub-rounds 2 to 4 in order to make use of the latest available information in the sample selection process For Nagaland, the villages situated within 5 km of a bus route constituted the sampling frame. For the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the villages which remain inaccessible throughout the year were, as usual, excluded from the sampling frame In the urban sector, the lists of NSS Urban Frame Survey (UFS) blocks were the sampling frames used in most cases. However, 1991 census house listing enumeration blocks were considered as the sampling units for some of the newly declared towns of the 1991 population census, for which UFS frames were not available. 2.3 Stratification : As usual, each state/union territory (u.t.) was divided into one or more agro-economic regions by grouping contiguous districts which are similar with respect to population density and crop pattern. In Gujarat, however, some districts were sub-divided for the purpose of region formation on the basis of location of dry areas and the distribution of tribal population in the state. The total number of regions formed in the whole of India was In the rural sector, within each region, each district normally formed a separate

10 stratum. However, if the census population of the district according to the sampling frame used exceeded 1.8 million / 2 million (depending on whether 1981 or 1991 census frame was used), the district was split into two or more strata by grouping contiguous tehs ils. In Gujarat, however, in case of districts extending over more than one region, the portion of a district falling in each region constituted a separate stratum even if the rural population of the district as a whole was less than 1.8 million / 2 millio n In the urban sector, strata were formed, again within NSS regions, on the basis of town population. In order to be able to allocate a larger proportion of the sample to the affluent section of society and thus improve the precision of the over all estimate of consumer expenditure, the usual first-stage stratification procedure was modified as follows. Urban blocks in towns with census population 400,000 or more were placed in different strata depending on whether they belonged to the "affluent" area of the town or not - the information on affluent areas being supplied by the regional/sub-regional field offices of NSSO. Full details of urban stratification are given below. stratum composition 1 towns with population less than towns with population towns with population towns with population affluent areas 5 towns with population other areas 6 a single city (if any) with population 1 million or more : affluent areas 7 a single city (if any) with population 1 million or more : other areas 8 another city (if any) with population 1 million or more : affluent areas 9 another city (if any) with population 1 million or more : other areas 2.4 Following usual NSS practice, the sample of villages and blocks in which the enquiry 5 was carried out was drawn in the form of two independent sub-samples. Either of these sub-samples could be used to generate a valid set of estimates which might be regarded as the provisional results of the survey un til such time as the final results, based on the entire sample, were available. 2.5 Allocation of sample: The first-stage sample size for any state/union territory of India was determined on the basis of its investigator strength and the expected workload per investigator. This sample was first allotted to the rural and urban sectors in consideration of the relative sizes of the rural and urban population with double weightage to the urban sector Within the urban sector of a state/u.t., allocation of the sample to the different urban strata was done in proportion to stratum population with double weightage to affluent strata - that is, strata 4,6 & 8 (see para 2.3.2). Stratum level allocations were adjusted to multiples of 8 as far as possible so as to have equal allocations for each sub-sample-sub-round combination Within the rural sector of a state/u.t., allocation of the sample to the different rural strata was done as follows For Group B areas (see para 2.2), the state/u.t. level rural sample was allocated to the different rural strata in proportion to 1991 census population. For other areas (Group A and Group C), allocation was initially made on the basis of 1981 census population. Stratum level allocations were adjusted to multiples of 8 as far as possible so as to have equal allocations for each sub-sample-subround combination However, for Group C areas, the original allocations for sub-rounds 2 to 4 were revised as follows. The total state/u.t. level allocat ion for sub-rounds 2 to 4 combined - 75% of the total as 25% had gone to sub-round 1 - was re-allocated to the rural strata in proportion to stratum population as

11 per 1991 census. Stratum level allocations were adjusted to multiples of 6 as far as possible so as to have equal allocations for the remaining sub-sample-sub-round combinations. 2.6 Selection of fsu's : Sample villages - except in Arunachal Pradesh - were selected by PPS circular systematic sampling (with population as the size variable) from the appropriate sampling frame as explained in para 2.2, in the form of two independent sub-samples. Sample blocks were selected by ordinary (equal probability) circular systematic sampling, also in the form of two independent sub-samples In Arunachal Pradesh the sample of villages was drawn by a cluster sampling procedure. The field staff were supplied with a list of sample "nucleus" villages and were advised to select clusters of villages - building up each cluster around a nucleus village - according to prescribed guidelines. The nucleus villages were selected circular systematically with equal probability, in the form of two independent sub-samples. 2.7 Selection of hamlet-groups/sub-blocks : To reduce workload the following procedure was adopted in drawing up the second- stage sampling frame. Larger sample villages and blocks were divided - according to usual NSS practice - into a suitable number of "hamlet-groups"/"sub-blocks" of roughly equal population content : the second-stage sampling frame was constituted of the households belonging to only two of these hamlet-groups, selected circular systematically, in case of sample villages, and one randomly selected sub-block in case of sample blocks (instead of the whole village/block). No ham let- group formation was, however, done in Arunachal Pradesh. In Kerala, practical difficulties arose in hamlet-group formation during sub-round 1. These were resolved by selecting, instead of two hamlet-groups, two EB's from the constituent EB's of large villages. 2.8 Selection of households : The affluent classes of society have expenditure levels 6 spread over a very wide section of the consumer expenditure range. As a result, the contribution of these classes to the sampling error of a consumer expenditure survey is large compared to that of an equal-sized chunk of population belonging to the more homogeneous "middle classes" (say). To improve the efficiency of consumer expenditure estimates, it was decided that the second-stage sampling frames ought to be stratified in such a way as to be able to allocate a larger proportion of the sample to the affluent sections of the population wherever they could be located Rural : In sample villages, households in the second-stage sampling frame were divided into two strata as follows. Households - if any - exhibiting signs of affluence such as the possession of any of a specified list of assets including land in excess of a certain specified area, or a member holding a good salaried job or belonging to a paying profession such as that of a doctor or advocate, were designated "affluent households" and the top 10 such households (subject to availability) placed in stratum 1. The remaining households formed second-stage stratum 2. Two households were selected circular systematically from second-stage stratum 1. From second-stage stratum 2, eight households were selected circular systematically after arranging the households in the stratum by "means of livelihood" ; this meant that households "self-employed in agriculture" were placed first, followed by "rural labour" households, and then the "others". Further, the households under "others" were arranged in five different land-possessed classes to ensure spread of the sample over households of different economic statuses Urban : In sample blocks, households with monthly per capita consumer expenditure (as reported at the time of household listing) Rs or more (Rs or more in towns with population one million and above) were placed in second-stage stratum 1 and the rest in second-stage stratum 2. In sample blocks belonging to first-stage strata 4,6 & 8

12 (affluent areas of towns with population 4 lakhs or more), as many as four sample households were selected for survey from second-stage stratum 1 and six from second-stage stratum 2. In all strata other than those numbered 4,6 & 8, two sample households were selected from second-stage stratum 1 and eight from second-stage stratum 2. In each case the sample of households, for each second-stage stratum, was drawn circular systematically with a random start. The households in second-stage stratum 2 were, prior to sample selection, placed in eight different groups and the different groups of households placed one after another in a specified order to ensure spread of the sample over the different groups. The grouping was done on considerations of means of livelihood (self-employed / regular wage or salary earning / casual labour / others) and household monthly per capita consumer expenditure. 2.9 Sample size : The survey covered, in all, households spread over sample villages/blocks. The number of sample villages and blocks allotted and surveyed, and the number of sample households and persons surveyed, are given for different state/u.t.'s and all-india in Table T0, separately for rural and urban sectors Estimation Procedure Estimation of aggregates at subsample level : Aggregates are first estimated at sub-sample level according to the following estimation formulae, where Y denotes the estimate - based on one sub-sample - of the aggregate of a given characteristic Y for a sector of a state/u.t. For the rural sector of a state/u.t. other than Arunachal Pradesh, For the rural sector of Arunachal Pradesh, n s 2 h sit 1 H sit Y = N y n h s s i=1 si t=1 sit j=1 sitj For the urban sector of a state/u.t., n s 2 h sit N s Hsit Y = Dsi y n h where y s t i j D H h p N n s s i=1 t=1 sit j=1 : observed value of the same characteristic in a sample household : stratum suffix : second-stage stratum suffix : sample village/block suffix : sample household suffix : number of hamlet-groups/sub-blocks formed in the surveyed village/block : number of households listed in the second-stage sampling frame : number of sample households surveyed : population of sample village as in the sampling frame : for the urban sector, number of sitj blocks in the sampling frame : number of sample villages/blocks surveyed in this sub-sample Psi : population of the s-th stratum as per frame used in the selection of i-th sample village of the stratum Nsi : for Arunachal Pradesh, number of sample villages in the sampling frame for s-th stratum which was used in selection of i-th sample village of the stratum D* : equals 1, if D = 1 equals D/2 if D > 1 Y 1 n s s i Psi D p * si 2 si t=1 H h h sit sit = sit j=1 y sitj 7

13 Estimation of aggregates for the combined sample (pooling sub-samples) : The combined sample estimate of an aggregate is obtained as the simple average of the corresponding sub-sample estimates Estimates of ratios : The estimate of a ratio of the form R = Y/X, where Y and X are the population aggregates of two characters, is obtained as ) R Y = X where Y and X are estimates of Y and X obtained according to the procedure laid down in paras and Examples of ratio estimates are rates and percentages. 8

14 Table T0: Number of villages/blocks allotted and surveyed and number of sample households and persons surveyed state/u.t. number of number of surveyed villages blocks households persons allotted surveyed allotted surveyed rural urban rural urban (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh * Assam Bihar Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh J & K Karnataka Kerala M.P Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tripura U.P West Bengal A.& N. Is Chandigarh D.& N. Haveli Daman & Diu Delhi Lakshadweep Pondicherry all-india * 26 nucleus villages 9

15 Chapter 3 Concepts and Definitions 3.1 Household : A group of persons normally living together and taking food from a common kitchen constitutes a household. The word "normally" means that temporary visitors are excluded but temporary stay-aways are included. Thus a son or daughter residing in a hostel for studies is excluded from the household of his/her parents, but a resident employee or resident domestic servant or paying guest (but not just a tenant in the house) is included in the employer/host's household. "Living together" is usually given more importance than "sharing food from a common kitchen" in drawing the boundaries of a household in case the two criteria are in conflict; however, in the special case of a person taking food with his family but sleeping elsewhere (say in a shop or a different house) due to space shortage, the household formed by such a person's family members is taken to include the person also. Each inmate of a mess, hotel, boarding and lodging house, hostel, etc. is considered as a single-member household except that a family living in a hotel (say) is considered as one household only; the same applies to residential staff of such establishments. 3.2 Household consumer expenditure : The expenditure incurred by a household on domestic consumption during the reference period is the household's consumer expenditure. The household consumer expenditure is the total of the monetary values of consumption of various groups of items namely (i) food, pan (betel leaves), tobacco, intoxicants and fuel & light, (ii) clothing and footwear and (iii) miscellaneous goods and services and durable articles For groups (i) and (ii), the total value of consumption is derived by aggregating the monetary value of goods actually consumed during the reference period. An item of clothing and footwear would be considered to have been consumed if it is brought into maiden or first use during the reference period. The consumption may be out of (a) purchases made during the reference period or earlier; (b) home grown stock; (c) receipt in exchange of goods and services; (d) any other receipt like gift, charity, borrowing and (e) free collection. Home produce is evaluated at the ex farm or ex factory rate. For evaluating the consumption of the items of group (iii) i.e. items categorised as miscellaneous goods and services and durable article s, a different approach is followed. In this case, the expenditure made during the reference period for the purchase of goods and services is considered as consumption It is pertinent to mention here that the consumer expenditure of a household on food items relates to the actual consumption by the normal resident members of the household and also by the guests whether during ceremonies or otherwise. To avoid double counting, transfer payments like charity, loan advance, etc. made by the household are not considered as consumption for items of groups (i) and (ii), since transfer receipts of these items have been taken into account. However, the item "cooked meals" is an exception to the rule. Meals prepared in the household kitchen and provided to the employees and/or others would automatically get included in domestic consumption of employer (payer) household. There is a practical difficulty of estimating the quantities and values of individual items used for preparing the meals served to emplo yees or to others. Thus, to avoid double counting, cooked meals received as perquisites from employer household or as gift or charity are not recorded in the recipient household. As a 10

16 general principle, cooked meals purchased from the market for consumption of the normal resident members and for guests and employees will also be recorded in the purchaser household This procedure of recording cooked meals served to others in the expenditure of the serving households only leads to bias -free estimates of average per capita consumption as well as total consumer expenditure. However, as the proportions of donors and recipients of free cooked meals are likely to vary in opposite directions over the expenditure classes, the nutritional intake derived from the consumer expenditure survey data may present a somewhat distorted picture. These derived nutrition intakes may get inflated for the rich (net donors) and somewhat understated for the poor (net recipients). This point has to be kept firmly in mind while using the NSS consumer expenditure data for any nutritional studies relating to the nutritional status of households. 3.4 Reference period : Consumption data appearing in this report were all collected with a reference period of last 30 days, i.e. the 30 days immediately preceding the date of survey. The reference period used for the survey, in other words, was a moving one, varying from household to household. 3.5 Sector: A word used for the rural-urban demarcation: rural and urban are the only two sectors as far as this report is concerned. 3.6 Major states : This refers to the following states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. 3.7 Household size : The size of a household is the total number of persons in the household. 3.8 Monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) : For a household, this is household consumer expenditure over a period of 30 days divided by household size. A person's 11 MPCE is understood as that of the household to which he/she belongs. 3.9 Durable goods: Household consumer goods other than food, fuel and clothing/footwear are, according to usual NSS practice, classified into durable goods and a residual miscellaneous goods category. Durable goods are distinguished from miscellaneous goods by having a longer expected lifetime of use (roughly, one year or more), though some petty durables such as pens, torches, spectacles and walking sticks, as well as books, are by convention included among miscellaneous goods. Durable goods used for household purposes thus include furniture and fixtures, recreational goods such as cameras, TV, cassettes and musical instruments, jewellery and ornaments, clocks and watches, household utensils and appliances for cooking, heating, cooling, and other work such as sewing, vehicles for personal transport, tyres and tubes, fluorescent tubes and lamps, and other electrical and sanitary fittings. Expenditure incurred on repairs and construction of durables used for domestic purpose is included in "expenditure on durable goods" Decile group (with respect to distribution of MPCE): Ranking sample households by MPCE, it is possible to classify the households in the population under survey into decile groups as follows. Suppose x(1), x(2),..., x(n) are the MPCEs of the sample households, with x(1) x(2)... x(n). It will be possible to find r such that estimated proportion of persons in the population with MPCE x(r) is less than or equal to 10% but estimated number of persons in the population with MPCE less than or equal to x(r+1) exceeds 10%. Then the first or lowest decile group of the population refers to persons in the population belonging to households with MPCE x(r), and estimates of average MPCE, total consumer expenditure, percentage of persons or households possessing a particular commodity, etc.,

17 are meaningful. Similarly, replacing 10% by 20%, one may identify another MPCE level x(s), and the second decile group of the population will refer to persons in the population belonging to households with x(r) household MPCE x(s). 12

18 Chapter 4 Possession of durable goods Tables 1R and 1U of the Appendix give estimated percentages of households possessing different durable goods for different decile groups of population (from poorest 10%, ranked by MPCE, to richest 10%), and the entire population, of rural and urban areas of each state and u.t., and of the country as a whole. 36 different durable goods are considered. The last column of the table gives average number of such goods possessed per 1000 households (e.g., a figure of 1500 in the last column against, say, electric fan means that the average number of electric fans possessed per household was 1.5 for the entire rural/urban area of the state/u.t. concerned) Ignoring differences among the decile groups for the moment, one may consider first the all decile groups figures for certain important items. Percentages of rural and urban households reporting possession of fourteen important household durables: radio, TV/VCR/VCP, tape recorder, bedstead, electric fan, air cooler/conditioner, clock or watch, stove, pressure cooker, sewing machine, washing machine, refrigerator, motorcycle/scooter and bicycle, are shown in Table T1 for India and the 15 major states Rural-urban differences: The percentages of possessor households in urban areas are in nearly all cases higher than the corresponding percentages for rural areas. Rural-urban differences in incidence of possession are seen to be low in case of bedsteads (69% for rural India as a whole and 74% for urban India) and also low for bicycles (33%, rural and 37%, urban). For all the other durables listed in Table T1, rural-urban differentials were much higher. Examples are TV/VCR/VCP and pressure cooker (rural, 7%; urban, 40%), electric fan 13 (rural, 16%; urban, 57%) and refrigerator (rural, 1%; urban, 12%). Rural-urban differentials were somewhat less marked for radios and clocks/watches, both of which were possessed by more than a quarter of all rural households in Inter-state differences General: As a rule, inter -state differences were more striking for rural areas of the country than for urban areas. Thus, for TV/VCR/VCP, the range of variation was only 25% to 64% for urban areas but 2% to 40% for rural areas Entertainment: radio, TV 1 and tape recorder Radio sets were possessed by 57% of rural households in Kerala and by 16-41% in other major states. Kerala (61%) and Karnataka (52%) had the highest incidence of household possession of radios in urban areas Tape recorders were present in 18-19% of rural households in Kerala and Punjab but by less than 9% in all other major states (only 1% in Bihar & Orissa and 2% in Assam & U.P.). In urban areas the incidence was 20-31% in 11 major states but only 9-10% in Bihar and U.P. 1 Although TV, VCR and VCP are clubbed together as a single item in the consumer expenditure schedule, it seems probable that all but an insignificant proportion of households which reported possession of "TV/VCR/VCP" were in fact reporting possession of TV sets.

19 Table T1: Inter-state variation in proportion of households possessing different items of durable goods item bedstead radio TV, VCR/ VCP tape recorder electric air cooler/ fan A.C. clock/ watch RURAL India A.P Assam Bihar Gujarat Haryana Karnataka Kerala M.P Maharashtra Orissa Punjab Rajasthan T.N U.P W.B maximum minimum range as % of mean URBAN India A.P Assam Bihar Gujarat Haryana Karnataka Kerala M.P Maharashtra Orissa Punjab Rajasthan T.N U.P W.B maximum minimum range as % of mean

20 Table T1: Inter-state variation in proportion of households possessing different items of durable goods item bicycle motorcycle/ scooter refrigerat or washing machine stove pressure cooker sewing machine RURAL India A.P Assam Bihar Gujarat Haryana Karnataka Kerala M.P Maharashtra Orissa Punjab Rajasthan T.N U.P W.B maximum minimum range as % of mean URBAN India A.P Assam Bihar Gujarat Haryana Karnataka Kerala M.P Maharashtra Orissa Punjab Rajasthan T.N U.P W.B maximum minimum range as % of mean

21 Figure 1R Leisure-time needs : percentage of possessor households Figure 1U Leisure-time needs : percentage of possessor households electric fan TV radio 40 radio electric fan 20 TV tape recorder tape recorder 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th population decile 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th population decile 16

22 The percentages of rural households reporting posses sion of TV/VCR/VCP are seen to be 40% for Punjab and 24% for Haryana, but only 2-7% for as many as ten of the major states, and in fact under 2.5% in Assam, Bihar and Orissa In urban areas of Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra, which are three of the top four major states when ranked by average urban MPCE, and in Gujarat, Rajasthan and U.P., more households reported possession of TV/VCR/VCP than possession of radio sets - a phenomenon not observed in rural areas of any state Equipment for housework: refrigerators, washing machines, pressure cookers, stoves and sewing machines As mentioned above, only 1% of rural households in India were found to own a refrigerator. In urban India, the incidence of possession was much higher than the national average in Punjab (33%) and Haryana (29%), somewhat high in Maharashtra (19%) and Gujarat (16%), and equal to the national average of 12% in Kerala and West Bengal The proportion of rural households having pressure cookers was under 10% in 12 of the major states (less than 3.5% in 6 states), though as high as 40% in Punjab, 25% in Gujarat and 18% in Haryana. In urban areas the proportion varied from 19% to 67% The use of washing machines - perhaps the most recent arrival on the Indian market among all the goods considered here - was found to be 3 or 4 times more frequent in urban Punjab (15% households) and Haryana (11%) than in urban India as a whole (4%). The proportion of urban owners did not exceed 4% in any other major state except Maharashtra, where it was 7%. under 20%. In urban areas the proportion was above 28% in all the major states, being highest in Gujarat (78%) and (72%) in Punjab and Maharashtra One of the most striking instances of inter-state variation was in possession of sewing machines in rural areas. Percentage of possessor households was 7% or less for 12 of the 15 major states (less than 4% in 10 states), but as high as 33% in Haryana, and 58% in Punjab. In urban areas variation was less, though considerably higher than the variation in case of (say) TV sets and tape recorders Personal transport: motorcycles/ scooters and bicycles Kerala had the lowest proportion (16%) of rural households possessing bicycles. The proportion was also low in the three other southern states - A.P., Karnataka and Tamil Nadu - and in Maharashtra and Bihar (25% or less). All other states reported proportions between 30% and 48% except Punjab, where nearly 74% of rural households had at least one bicycle. Interestingly, the proportion was much lower in urban Punjab (only 60%), no doubt due to the widespread use of motorcycles and scooters in preference to bicycles there (see also paragraph ) The percentage of households with motorcycles/scooters was around 12% in urban India and 2% in rural India. The incidence of possession was highest in urban areas of Gujarat (19%) and Punjab (18%). In rural India, Punjab (9%) was well ahead of all other major states in this respect West Bengal (4%) had the lowest percentage of motorcycle/scooter owners in urban India. In rural India, the 4 eastern states - Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa - occupied the lowest positions in this respect among all major states % of rural households possessed stoves in Punjab and Gujarat, 35% in Maharashtra and 29% in Haryana. In all other major states the proportion was 17

23 Figure 2R Labour-saving household equipment: percentages o possessor households Figure 2U Labour-saving household equipment: percentages o possessor households 70 Rural 70 Urban stove pressure cooker 30 stove st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th population decile pressure cooker sewing machine refrigerator sewing machine refrigerator 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th population decile 18

24 4.1.4 Comfort goods: air coolers/ conditioners and electric fans Both rural and urban areas of Punjab had around 82% households possessing electric fans. In all other states however, the rural possession rate was much lower than the urban In urban areas the lowest percentage of households with electric fans was reported by Bihar (38%). In rural areas, on the other and, only three major states - Punjab (82%), Haryana (65%) and Gujarat (40%) - had 40% or more households possessing electric fans and, apart from these three and Kerala (30%), all other major states had less than 22% households in this category. In Orissa, Assam, Karnataka and West Bengal, the rural percentage was around 6-8% while in Bihar it was as low as 3% Air coolers/conditioners were present in 6% of urban households in the country as a whole. They were most common in Haryana (31% of urban households) and Punjab (25%). M.P. (12%) and Rajasthan (11%) were the only other states where the proportion of possessor households exceeded 10%. In all the major eastern and southern states except Andhra Pradesh, less than 2% (usually less than 1%) of urban households reported possession of this commodity Other durables Rural areas of three major states - Karnataka, Orissa and Tamil Nadu had less than 40% households possessing bedsteads. In U.P., Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal the percentage was between 60% and 73%. In all other states over 80% of rural households reported possession. As for urban areas, Tamil Nadu had the lowest percentage of households with bedsteads (42%), followed by Orissa (58%), Karnataka (60%), U.P. (67%) and Maharashtra (76%), all other states reporting more than 80% Percentage of urban households possessing clocks/watches varied very little over states. In rural areas variation among the major states was within the range 14-64% and very much in tune with inter -state variation in average MPCE (see NSS report nos. 401,402). 4.2 Variation with overall level of living To recapitulate, the decile groups for which percentages of possessing households have been tabulated refer to segments of population in different ranges of household monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE). Thus each of the 10 rural/urban decile groups of any state contain roughly one-tenth of the state s rural/urban population, and may be thought of, respectively, as the poorest one -tenth (in terms of level of living as reflected in MPCE), the next poorest one-tenth, and so on up to the richest one-tenth The 10 ranges of MPCE to which the 10 decile groups of the rural or urban population of a state correspond are specified by their lower (or upper) limits. These limits are given in Tables 3R and 3U of the Appendix for each state and u.t. and for the country as a whole Here the object of interest is the variation among the different decile groups in respect of the percentage of households possessing each item of durable goods. Although Tables 1R and 1U of the Appendix gives details of this variation for each state and u.t., the discussion here will be confined to variation at the national level, considering rural and urban areas separately. 19