The rural and urban totals
For August 2023–July 2024, the report’s category table gives food consumption of ₹1,939 per person per month in rural India and ₹2,776 in urban India. Food accounts for 47.04% of rural monthly per capita consumption expenditure and 39.68% of urban expenditure in this series.
Urban food consumption is higher in rupees while taking a smaller share of the overall consumption basket. Those two statements can both be true because the urban total across all items is also higher. A lower food share does not mean that fewer rupees were allocated to food, and the share alone does not establish whether a household had an adequate diet.
Evidence: NSS Report 592: Survey on Household Consumption Expenditure, 2023–24
Look inside the food basket
The combined beverages, refreshments and processed food group averages ₹406 per person per month in rural areas and ₹776 in urban areas. Milk and milk products average ₹348 and ₹503; vegetables ₹248 and ₹288; and egg, fish and meat ₹203 and ₹249. These published categories are useful for comparing the composition of consumption across the two sectors.
The processed-food group needs particular care. Its survey definition includes items such as purchased cooked meals and refreshments. It is not a clinical or nutritional classification of ultra-processed foods. Relabeling the category would create a claim that the expenditure table does not measure. Likewise, the combined egg, fish and meat group does not show a separate market value for each food.
Evidence: NSS Report 592: Survey on Household Consumption Expenditure, 2023–24
Per person means the whole population denominator
The category average divides estimated consumption value by the relevant estimated population. It includes people in households reporting no consumption of that category during the reference period. It is therefore not the average spend of milk buyers, meat eaters or restaurant customers. A buyer-only amount requires a different denominator and additional data.
These are means, not medians. They do not describe the bill of a particular household, and a national rural average does not stand in for every rural district. To estimate a household amount, even a simple illustration must state the assumed household size and avoid calling the result the observed typical bill. Rural and urban means should not be pooled with an unweighted average.
Evidence: NSS Report 592: Survey on Household Consumption Expenditure, 2023–24
Know which valuation series you are using
HCES publishes results with and without an additional valuation of specified goods received free through welfare programmes. The figures on this page use the series without that additional welfare imputation. This does not make it a cash-only spending series: the usual valuation of consumption from home production, gifts and other non-purchase sources remains part of the survey framework.
The rupee values are at the prices of the survey period. They are not inflation-adjusted 2026 prices or household income. A comparison over time needs compatible categories, valuation rules and price treatment. The published rupee categories are rounded, so the official percentage shares should be retained rather than recomputed as if those rounded rupees were exact.
For a market study, use this basket as context for category importance. A forecast still needs a dated population base, suitable local consumption evidence, a clearly defined product category and assumptions about the customers a business can reach. HCES consumption is not a prediction of one business’s sales.
Evidence: NSS Report 592: Survey on Household Consumption Expenditure, 2023–24