Impacts of the COVID Lockdowns on Consumption: Household Data from India

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and policy responses to control it have together created a major, but unusual, economic shock. In March 2020, India instituted a severe lockdown, which was relaxed only slowly, leading to a severe decline in GDP. In this paper, we analyze household survey data for consumption expenditure, from the Indian state of Punjab. Punjab by itself would constitute the world’s 50th most populous nation. We analyze the effects of the pandemic and lockdown on household consumption expenditure levels and composition. We separate the effects on rural versus urban households, and by socio-economic characteristics, particularly occupation and the gender of the household head. While the urban population cut back expenditure across all categories, rural households shifted toward basic commodities and cut back more on other expenditure. Rural female-headed households were the most severely affected.