Impacts of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Consumption: Household Data from India

Abstract

We quantify the impacts on consumption expenditure and the patterns following India’s initial sudden lockdown in response to the coronavirus disease pandemic and the gradual relaxation that followed. We use household survey data from a representative Indian state, Punjab. We separate the effects between rural versus urban households, and whether the households were female headed or had daily laborers. While the urban population cut back expenditure across all categories, rural households shifted toward basic commodities and cut back more on other expenditure. Rural households that included daily-wage laborers were the most severely affected.