India to Launch First All-India Household Income Survey in 2026
In an important move to result to enhance data-driven policymaking, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has made the announcement that it will launch an All-India Household Income Survey in 2026. It will provide information on income distribution, help to assess the impact of technology on wages, and allow closures of data gaps in welfare and economic inequality. The survey will be supported by a Technical Expert Group under the leadership of Surjit Bhalla, Former Executive Director (IMF).
This will be the first Household Income survey on an all-India basis that will capture the lack of accurate income data collected from households in India. The Ministry of Statistics (MoSPI) has a number of data gaps in the income area especially concerning wages, wage distributions and the influence of technology on income, which is highly significant for making welfares and economic policies.
Objectives and Aims
- Understand income distribution of Indian households
- Assess the impacts of technology adoption on household wages, income and earnings
- Enable targeting of welfare schemes based on accurate income data.
- Adopt best practices for income data collection
Technical Oversight
• Technical Expert Group- TEG established under Surjit Bhalla.
The TEG will be responsible for guiding,
- Concepts and definitions of the survey
- Sampling designs
- Estimation methods
- Integrating best practice from around the world (US, Canada, South Africa, Australia).
Implementation and Strategy
- Will be undertaken by the National Statistical Office- NSO
- Will capture possibly the following sources of income- wages, self-employment income, remittances, and online income etc.
- Will improve upon earlier efforts that faced field-level data reliability issues.
- Efforts will be made to ensure transparency, accuracy, and granular regional insights.