Healthcare and alcohol are hardly ever used together in a sentence – in fact, it is ironic to think that someone would spend equally on both healthcare and alcohol. However, Indian households’ spending on alcohol and tobacco, as well as healthcare, saw a massive jump from FY23. This data was released after a Moneycontrol analysis released by the government recently.
Healthcare, Alcohol, Tobacco: Things Indians Spent Most On
Data On Expenditures Of Indian Households: A Moneycontrol Analysis
The recent Moneycontrol data highlights the rising expenditure on various amenities and services. The graph below shows how much the rate of spending has increased from financial year (FY) 2023 to financial year 2024. This includes amenities and services like education, clothing and footwear, communication, recreation and culture, and of course, health and alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics.
Indian households’ spending on alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and narcotics went up 15.7 per cent in FY24. In FY23, the same number was a mere 1.6 per cent. For your information, the 15.7 percent rise has been the highest since FY12. This is likely because people are getting back to their pre-pandemic lifestyles.
Not just alcoholic beverages, but health expenditures by households too saw a significant spike – it jumped to 17.4 percent compared to the 7.2 percent in FY23. The rise in health expenditure has seen a significant jump, with it being the highest since FY17. This hints towards rising health concerns as changing lifestyles, increasing pollution, and unregulated adulteration in food and water continue to affect the health of millions of Indians.
The spending patterns shown in the above graph are a part of the household consumption expenditure that is used to compute GDP growth and is released within a gap of a year.
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Expenditures That Saw A Dip
On the other hand, a few expenditures didn’t see a positive increase compared to last year. Food and non-alcoholic beverages saw a mere 0.5 per cent increase compared to the 4.9 per cent rise in FY23. Whereas, utilities like housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels saw a 3.9 percent rise in FY24 compared to the 4.2 percent rise in FY23. Similarly, Indian households spent less on restaurants and hostels – about 18.1 per cent in FY24. Compare that to FY23, where the spending saw a whopping 68.7 per cent rise!
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Summing Up
India’s consumption spending picked up in a few areas in FY24 compared to FY23. These include expenditures like alcoholic beverages, health, and miscellaneous goods and services. On the other hand, a few areas saw a dip. For example, clothing and footwear, transport, communication, recreation and culture. Even though Indians are becoming more and more conscious of their health choices, the study tells a different, more intriguing story of the way Indians are prioritizing their spending.
