Archive · 29 Sep 2025
Updated Poverty Line: Changes in India
Imagine a line that says how much money you need to not be considered poor.
India had a committee that created one.
Economists looked at new data and updated this line.
They found that poverty went down in many states.
Odisha and Bihar saw the biggest drops.
The economists didn't just use the old line; they made a new one.
The government is also using something called multidimensional poverty, which looks at things like health and education, not just money.
It focuses on a wide range of poverty metrics.
RBI economists updated the Rangarajan poverty lines using the 2022-23 Household Consumption Expenditure Survey.
The Rangarajan committee previously set urban and rural poverty lines based on monthly per capita expenditure.
Odisha and Bihar experienced the largest declines in poverty levels between 2011-12 and 2022-23.
Kerala and Himachal Pradesh had the lowest poverty levels in 2022-23.
The government emphasizes multidimensional poverty, considering health, education, and standard of living.
- Who
- Economists from the RBI’s Department of Economic and Policy Research
- What
- Updated Rangarajan poverty lines for Indian states.
- When
- Report published recently; data from 2011-12 and 2022-23
- Where
- India (focusing on 20 major states)
- Why
- To reassess poverty levels and trends in India.
- Poverty Line Committee
- Headed by C. Rangarajan
- Rangarajan Line (Urban)
- Rs 1,407/month per capita expenditure
- Rangarajan Line (Rural)
- Rs 972/month per capita expenditure
- Updated Data Source
- Government's Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2022-23
- Key Findings
- Poverty declined most in Odisha and Bihar between 2011-12 and 2022-23.
- Focus
- Poverty measurement in India
