Recent government consumption data presents a worrying reality: rural households are spending more on gutkha than on education. The Household Consumption and Expenditure Survey (HCES) reveals that rural families spend only 2.5% of their total consumption on education, while 4% is spent on tobacco products, mainly gutkha. Rural India Spends More on Gutkha Than Education, Survey Reveals These findings come at a time when tobacco prices are expected to rise from February 1, even as the government continues to expand public health services nationwide. Tobacco consumption has steadily increased over the last decade. From 2011-12 to 2023-24, per capita spending on tobacco rose by 58% in rural areas and by 77% in urban areas. Tobacco now makes up about 1.5% of monthly per capita expenditure in rural India and 1% in urban India. Although these spending shares may seem small, the number of tobacco users shows widespread and growing consumption. In rural India, households consuming tobacco increased from 9.9 crore (59.3% of all rural households) to 13.3 crore (68.6%), a 33% rise in just over a decade. Urban India has seen an even faster increase, with tobacco-using households growing by 59%, from 2.8 crore (34.9%) to 4.7 crore (45.6%). Tobacco… Read MoreBusiness Archives – Trak.in – Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups
