Telangana exhibits stark difference between urban & rural household expenditure

HYDERABAD: At 8,158 monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE- 2022-23) Telangana ranks third in the country on this parameter for urban areas among major states. Spending on non-food items such as fridge, television, beverages and processed food, medical and transportation have increased between 2011-12 and 2022-23 while expenditure on food such as cereals, pulses have slowed, latest data released by the statistics office showed.
State-wise figures accessed by TOI on MPCE, released by the Centre after a gap of 11 years for the country on Saturday as part of Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES), show an interesting and concerning scenario of the state. Depicting a strong concentration of wealth and opportunities in the state in urban areas, mostly Hyderabad, the rural MPCE is only 4,802 and the state is not even among the top 10 states in the case of rural MPCE.
Findings of the survey, carried out between Aug 2022 and July 2023, showed that the country's urban MPCE stands at 6,459. The average MPCE in Indian households rose by 33.5% since 2011-12 in urban households to 3,510, with rural India's MPCE seeing a 40.42% increase over the same period to hit 2,008. A household survey was carried out among 7,000 households in the state.
Pointing out the disparity, assistant professor, School of Economics, University of Hyderabad, Krishna Reddy Chittedi said figures indicate a widening income gap between urban and rural areas. "City has always been the focus of development because of this some districts abutting it may have shown good growth, but this will not be reflected in all districts," he added.