Maharashtra, Haryana saw biggest drop in rural consumer spending: NSO data

Rural parts of Haryana and Maharashtra saw an 18 per cent fall in consumer spending in 2017-18, compared to 2011-12

The steepest fall in consumer spending in rural areas happened in Maharashtra and Haryana, the National Statistical Office’s (NSO’s) consumer expenditure survey of 2017-18 showed.

Incidentally, the two states went to Assembly polls in October and the NSO’s survey was supposed to be officially released in public domain in June. The government has decided to junk the survey over ‘data quality’ issues.

The survey was conducted between July 2017 and June 2018, which coincided with the implementation of the goods and services tax and came a few months after the government’s demonetisation move.

The NSO’s survey ‘Key Indicators of Household