Volume 54 - Article 13 | Pages 405–440  

Changes in the household expenditure basket in India during COVID-19

By Pallavi Choudhuri, Sonalde Desai

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc across countries, causing an unprecedented healthcare crisis and supply chain disruptions. Our paper focuses on how households coped and the role of expanded Indian government food subsidies in mitigating food insecurity.

Objective: We use panel data from two rounds of household surveys (2019 and 2021) to examine changes in per capita household expenditure and how these differed across occupation and income groups. We also discuss the role of in-kind assistance, extended during the pandemic, in smoothing food consumption.

Methods: We use fixed effects panel regression to estimate changes in per capita expenditure on various items in the household budget before and after the onset of the pandemic. We also estimate shifts in the composition of the household food basket between the two time periods.

Results: In the survey area, both per capita incomes and per capita household expenditure decreased, but the expenditure decrease was largely concentrated in discretionary items, leaving food consumption unchanged. The government policy of distributing practically free cereals, combined with household emphasis on protecting food expenditure, helped avert a substantial decline in food consumption and even led to a slight increase in dietary diversity.

Conclusions: The pre-existing social safety net in the form of a food distribution program helped cushion the impact of the pandemic-related income decline.

Contribution: Our examination of India’s expanded free food program during the pandemic contributes to the literature on the role of in-kind assistance during catastrophic emergencies.

Author’s Affiliation

• Pallavi Choudhuri - National Council of Applied Economic Research, India EMAIL
• Sonalde Desai - University of Maryland, United States of America EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Gone and forgotten? Predictors of birth history omissions in India
Volume 50 - Article 32

Aligning household decision-making with work and education: A comparative analysis of women’s empowerment
Volume 48 - Article 19

Fathers' migration and nutritional status of children in India: Do the effects vary by community context?
Volume 43 - Article 20

Indian paradox: Rising education, declining womens' employment
Volume 38 - Article 31

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