Podcast: Urban indebtedness might turn more acute due to pandemic

A national sample survey has revealed an increase in debt among households in India. The Covid-19 impact would have further increased the indebtedness. The survey was conducted in two rounds, first between January and August 2019, and another between September and December 2019. It spread across 5,940 villages covering 69,455 households in the rural sector and 3,995 blocks covering 47,006 households in the urban sector.

Vivian Fernandes, The Federal’s columnist, says that the urban indebtedness would have become more acute due to the pandemic.

Another survey revealed that 50.2 per cent of agricultural households were indebted. The average outstanding debt of agricultural households stood at ₹74,121. In this podcast, Vivian Fernandes elaborates on the correlation between the indebtedness and the size of holdings by the farmers. He also speaks about the income generated by agricultural households from crop production and animal husbandry. “If you own less than 2.5 acres, you tend to earn from other sources than the cultivation of crops and animal husbandry,” he said.