Scope of the study

The key pillars of the ICE 360° Surveys have been the robust estimation of the household troika – income, spending, and savings. With the urban and rural household demographic data captured across states and agro-climatic zones, this will provide for the one of the few robust estimates of the geographic and demographic distribution of households across various income levels, and how they earn, spend and save. It will go further, capturing the “state of the nation” dashboard with data on education, occupational transition, health, wellbeing, etc. It is also planned that the survey also includes a section on the mind of the Indian consumer, probing their values, perceptions, aspirations, consumer confidence and buying behaviour.

Figure 1: Thematic research areas covered in ICE 360° Surveys

First phase (Listing: creation of sampling frame): Over 300,000 households, 20 item questionnaire including demographics, income, spending, savings positions, family structure and lifecycle stage, financial inclusion and indebtedness, asset ownership, etc. The data views created from this listing dataset will be available for commercial access by May 2024.

Second Phase (Main household survey): Over Around 40,000 households, drawn from sampling frame of households; questionnaire covering

• Household Characteristics: Type of dwelling unit and availability and access to basic amenities, ownership of durables, intention to purchase in near future, livelihood linked seasonal migration trends, remittance behaviour, etc. 
• Social and Political Inclusion: Social discrimination, feeling of security within neighbourhood, areas of concern, food security, participation in social activities and political participation, membership in trade bodies, presence and usage of in trade and social networks, etc.
• Access to welfare: Awareness of and participation in flagship government programs, method use to access information on current trade/occupation and schemes and benefits, degree of dependency on PDS, life cover, employment guarantee, etc.
• Income and consumption: Volume of earned and unearned income in households from all sources, itemised consumption expenditure covering food and non-food items, utilities, debt servicing, non-routine expenses, etc.
• Debt Situation of Households: Penetration of formal debt, purpose of debt (including consumption, production, for business expansion/seed capital), preferred source of credit, future intention and purpose for taking loan from formal and informal sources, current debt servicing costs, etc.
• Financial Optimism: Perception about stability in major source of household income, level of satisfaction regarding financial situation of household, perceived economic class, expected change in household’s economic situation in next 3 years, etc.
• Saving and Investment Behaviour: Cross market savings portfolios, market penetration (household) of broad investment modes, share of wallet – percentage share of total savings/investments by instruments, short and long term savings motivations, savings/investment plans for 2019-20, retirement outlook, remittances, awareness, understanding, and trust in financial instruments linked to capital markets, etc.
• Labour market participation: Occupations of all members, sector of employment, job security and nature of contracting, social security and labour rights, disguised employment, etc.
• Financial inclusion measure: Access to formal finance, sourcing of debt by purpose, debt servicing costs, bank account ownership, life insurance coverage, eligibility for accessing formal loan (proof of address, identity proof, availability of collateral for mortgage - real estate, gold, investments), awareness of prospect of leveraging owned assets for credit from FIs, etc.
• Digital connectivity: Penetration of smart phones, degree of comfort with using VAS, access to internet and usage of internet to perform basic functions.
• Access to public infrastructure: Availability and ease of access to public infrastructure, including health, education, judiciary, markets, essential commodities etc.
• Citizen’s Report Card: Public opinion on direction of change of state of the nation, performance of the economy, governance, corruption, law and order, and other contemporary issues of national interest, and priority expectation from current government going forward.  
• Demographic Profile of household members: Age, gender, education level, occupation of CWE, primary and secondary sources of income, unemployment by duration and profile of unemployed, etc.