Monthly spending per person, urban (MPCE)

Why it matters

Spending shows how well a household lives: what it can afford in food, rent, fuel, clothing, travel, schooling and health care. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) calls Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE) the primary indicator for most analysis of household consumption. Urban MPCE tracks the living standard of households in towns and cities.

The Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) that produces it is also used to measure poverty and inequality, and to set the basket of goods and services and the weights of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation. Comparing urban with rural MPCE shows whether the gap between living standards in towns and villages is closing.

What it is

Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE) is a household's monthly consumption expenditure divided by the number of its members. Each person is given the MPCE of their household. This page shows the average for urban India.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) measures it through the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES). The 2023-24 survey covered 2,61,953 households, 1,07,596 of them urban. Households recall their spending over three periods, together called the Modified Mixed Reference Period (MMRP): the last 7 days for items such as edible oil, eggs, fish, meat, milk, vegetables and fruit; the last 30 days for other food, fuel and light, rent and most other goods and services; and the last 365 days for clothing, footwear, education, hospital care and durable goods.

This figure leaves out free items received through welfare schemes, such as rice, wheat, pulses, laptops, bicycles and school uniforms. A second NSO series adds an estimated (imputed) value for them. Neither series values free health care under schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), or free education.

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