Post-pandemic, the poorest 20% of households saw income levels shrink 52% from the 2015-16 level. These are findings of the latest round of the ICE 360 Degree Survey by People Research on India's Consumer Economy (PRICE). Income levels in what PRICE classifies as upper-middle and rich segments not only did not fall due to Covid, but increased — pointing out how lower income segments are more vulnerable to such shocks, necessitating government intervention. The pandemic also resulted in the gap between the richest and the poorest 20% widening from 3.8 times in 2015-16 to 11 times in 2020-21 before narrowing to 7 times during the last financial year.