What's in new India's consumption basket: Airpods, playstations, online streaming & more
Playstations, AirPods, power banks and sanitisers have found a place in the government's basket of goods — ownership data on these items has been collected for the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES), updating a list that nevertheless still contains a few things that are obsolete such as VCRs.
The survey collected information on the quantity and value of items purchased or hired by households in FY23, while also checking if they were acquired first-hand or second-hand.
It also included information on the cost of repair and maintenance of these items.
Playstations are clubbed with recreational appliances such as home theatre systems and radios, along with items such as VCR, VCD and DVD players. AirPods are classified as items of personal use along with headphones, earphones, ear pods, Bluetooth devices, speakers, etc.
Power banks are in the list of other personal goods categories with hair dryers, straighteners, curlers, trimmers, groomers, epilators, etc.
All these are classified under the broader head of durable goods, the share of which increased to 6.9% in FY23 in rural areas from 4.9% in FY12, according to HCES findings released last week. In urban areas, their consumption went up to 7.2% from 5.6%.
Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming services are also tracked in the new series, alongside expenditure on e-books, audiobooks and online learning courses. The share of entertainment in rural areas increased to 1.09% in FY23 from 0.99% in FY12. However, for urban areas, the share declined to
