MoSPI Releases Pre-Testing Report & Draft Schedule for India’s First National Household Income Survey 2026
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities | SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
Institution: Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI)
The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has published the Pre-Testing Report and a Draft Questionnaire / Schedule for the National Household Income Survey (NHIS), 2026, alongside an open call for public feedback.
The NHIS is intended to be India’s first pan-India household income survey, to be launched in February 2026, filling a data gap in measuring household incomes (wages, self-employment, property income, remittances etc.) across the country. A Technical Expert Group (TEG) led by Dr. Surjit S. Bhalla recommended a pre-testing exercise of the draft schedule, which was conducted between 4–8 August 2025 across 15 Regional Offices of NSO covering all six zones (including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad).
In each Regional Office, two urban and two rural localities—including affluent and non-affluent areas—were selected to test questionnaire clarity, flow, comprehension and respondent burden. The findings led to refinements in survey items and layout.
MoSPI has made both the Pre-Testing Report and Draft Schedule available on its website (mospi.gov.in) for comments, with the deadline set for 30 October 2025. Stakeholders—researchers, policymakers, data users, and the public—can suggest modifications or new items, especially on income components.
The NHIS marks a major step in strengthening India’s statistical infrastructure. By directly measuring household incomes — previously proxied through expenditure or national accounts — it is expected to enable finer analysis of inequality, poverty, and income mobility, and to improve evidence-based fiscal and welfare policymaking.
Follow the full press release: https://www.mospi.gov.in/sites/default/files/announcements/Pre-Testing_Report_ScheduleNHIS-2026.pdf