450K families, 90 questions: India’s first income survey can’t get people to reveal their income

India has just embarked on its first nationwide income survey, aiming to gather information from 450,000 households across the nation. This groundbreaking initiative, known as the National Household Income Survey (NHIS), is set to provide invaluable insights into the financial well-being of Indian families, but its success is marred by a significant hurdle – people's reluctance to disclose their income.

The enumerators, like NK, face numerous challenges while conducting the survey. One common issue is that people often mistake the enumerators for income-tax officers and consequently withhold their personal information. Additionally, enumerators struggle to obtain even basic details such as the household members' names, dates of birth, and precise financial information.

One enumerator recounted a particularly difficult experience in a village in Gaya, Bihar, where a respondent provided cryptic answers like "Ram ji ki biwi" (wife of Ram ji) and "there was a flood the year I was born." Such vague responses highlight the respondents' aversion to revealing their actual income.

Experts in the field, such as development economist Varna Sri Raman, have long cautioned against the reliability of income surveys due to the inherent difficulty in accurately capturing this sensitive data. People tend to overstate their expenditures while understating their income, leading to unreliable results.

Despite these challenges, the Indian government recognizes the importance of income surveys in understanding the distribution of wealth across households. The survey aims to establish a more accurate poverty line and help tailor government schemes to specific communities. As the country stands behind other nations like the US, UK, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh in conducting income surveys, the NHIS represents a significant step forward in India's quest for comprehensive socioeconomic data.