Survey to gauge debt, investment situation of households will only be available after 2026

A clearer picture on household debt and assets will take some time to emerge

Did the coronavirus pandemic add to the debt burden of lower-income households? Is India’s consumption fuelled by borrowings? Has rural India started investing in the stock market?

The answer to these questions may take some more time as the government is yet to hold talks on debt and investment survey of households, sources have told Moneycontrol. “We will have discussions on All India Debt and Investment Survey (AIDIS) in 2025,” one of the sources said.

While the ministry of statistics and programme implementation is getting ready for the roll-out of surveys such as the travel and tourism expenditure study, health survey and Comprehensive Annual Modular Survey in 2025, the debt situation one could only be available after 2026.

The last such survey was conducted before the coronavirus outbreak in 2019 when more than 1.2 lakh households were surveyed to assess the position of their assets and liabilities as of June 30, 2018.

The survey collected information on the average value of assets, the incidence of indebtedness, the average amount of debt and debt-asset ratio across urban and rural areas.

It also classified results based on social categories and religious groups.

The survey, for instance, found that asset ownership was higher in other backward classes (OBCs) households compared with general category and was the lowest for scheduled tribe (ST) households. The average value of assets, however, was higher for the general category.

While scheduled caste (SC) households had higher asset coverage, the average value of was lower than that of ST households.

Deposits, savings and stock market accounted for 9.2 percent of asset wealth in urban areas, twice that of rural areas, which was at 4.5 percent.

Rising debt

India’s household debt rose to 40.1 percent of the GDP in 2022-23, according to the RBI’s June Financial Stability Report.

“Financial liabilities of households have risen in the post-pandemic period, as reflected in the surge in retail loan growth for financing both consumption and investment. Alongside, agricultural and business loans have also grown,” the report said.

The debt survey will likely shed a light on which households contributed to the rising debt situation.