92% Indian households say their monthly expenses have risen in last 3 months: Survey

Around 92% Indian households have said that their average monthly expenses went up in the last three months, according to a new survey by community social media platform

LocalCircles

. The rising prices of petrol, diesel edible oil, household essentials and other related products due to the Russia-Ukraine war has had an adverse impact on household finances.

When respondents were asked how much their monthly household expenses increased in the last three months due to higher prices of petrol, diesel, edible oil, household essentials and other related products and services, on an aggregate basis, 70% of Indian households surveyed said that their monthly expenses have risen by over 10% in the last three months (i.e. from February to April). The average increase was over 15%. Further, as many as 15% said that their household expenses had increased by over 30%. Only 2% said that their monthly expenses are still the same and 4% said that they had actually reduced.

The LocalCircles survey received more than 23,500 responses from over 12,000 households located across 323 districts of India. Approximately 62% respondents were men while 38% respondents were women, and 42% respondents were from tier 1, 31% from tier 2 and 27% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

According to the latest data by the

Ministry of Commerce and Industry

, the wholesale inflation in April 2021 rose to 15.08%, the highest rise in over 16 years. India's annual wholesale price-based inflation accelerated to 13.11% in February from 12.96% in January 2022.

Given the geopolitical situation and the Indian economy, the constrained supplies of several commodities, the Covid-19 pandemic and the overall condition of the economy, 55% of Indian households surveyed anticipate their monthly expenses to rise by over 10% in the next three months, i.e. from May to August. Another 26% anticipate the increase to by up to 10%.