Is poverty being underestimated in India?

Last month, the government released a factsheet on the 2023-24 Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES), which recorded a decline in poverty in urban and rural areas. Over the last few years, policymakers and academics have debated the issues of incomparable data sets, the unavailability of data, and the definition of an adequate consumption basket to determine a poverty line. Is poverty being underestimated in India? Here we discuss the question. Guests: P.C. Mohanan, former member of the National Statistical Commission; N.R. Bhanumurthy, Director of the Madras School of Economics Host: Samreen Wani Edited by Jude Francis Weston