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Current Economic Statistics and Review For the Week 
Ended November 03, 2007 (43rd Weekly Report of 2007)

 

Theme of the week:

 

All-India Debt and Investment Survey

Section 14

Cost of Debt – Purpose-wise Debt  *

 

 “It is a sign of flourishing economic activity in the

 society if large numbers of households have taken

 loans and the loan taken is utilised for productive

 purpose”.

AIDIS

I

Introduction

 

The  National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) has collected in their 59th round conducted during calendar year 2003 (January-December) through  All-India Debt and Investment survey (AIDIS) hr information on the purpose for which a lon was taken by households besides various other characteristics of households nd their loan particular. Different theme notes have been submitted earlier covering various characteristics of households indebtedness t all India and state level for rural and urban households. This note 13 in the series, attempts the analysis the reasons or the purpose for which households borrowed cash loans from various institutional and non-institutional agencies and their end uses.

 

The purpose for which a loans are taken by household can be more than one. In such cases, the purpose for which the maximum amount of loan were originally intended to spent, has been considered as the main purpose of loan by the NSSO. Secondly, even if a loan was utilized for a purpose other than the one specified in the contractual document, the original purpose of borrowing was only considered by the NSSO.

The purposes for which a loan has been borrowed are broadly grouped under a) productive and non-productive. While the former covers both capital and current expenditures in farm and non-farm business, the latter covers the purposes like daily household expenditures, purchase of consumer goods, litigation, repayment of debt, etc. The analytical details of these results are presented in the following sections.

 

II

Debt According to Purpose

Table 1 presents households expenditure of cash loans outstanding classified into productive and non-productive expenditures, as revealed by the result of  NSSO’s 59th round survey ( Report N0 501).

           

Table 1: Broad Pattern of Households – Debt By Purpose

 
Rural
Urban
All
Number of Households (in million)

Total Households

147.9

(100.0)

55.5

(100.0)

203.4

(100.0)

Indebted Households

39.2

(26.5)

9.9

(17.8)

49.1

(24.1)

Productive Purpose

19.3

(13.0)

2.0

(3.6)

21.3

(10.5)

Non-Productive Purpose

22.9

(15.5)

8.2

(14.8)

31.1

(15.3)

Amount of Cash Debt and Purpose-wise Expenditure ( in Rs crore)

Total Cash Debt Outstanding

111468

(100.0)

65327

(100.0)

176795

(100.0)

Productive Purpose

59078

(53.0)

16267

(24.9)

75345

(42.6)

Non-Productive Purpose

52390

(47.0)

49060

(75.1)

101450

(57.4)

Note: Data on households is as given by NSSO in their report No. 501. The sum of Individual items will not tally with total.

Data on cash debt is worked out by applying the respective ratios to the total debt.

Figures in brackets are percentages to total.

Source: NSSO (2005), AIDIS, Report No. 501.

 

It may be seen from the Table  that out of 203.4 million households in India ,  49.1 million households forming about 24.1 per cent are indebted by an aggregate amount of Rs. 176,795 crore. Out of this, an amount of  Rs. 75,345 crore or 42.6 per cent of their total debt has been spent by 21.3 million indebted households (10.5 per cent of total households) on productive purposes (Table 1). As against this, 31.1 million indebted households forming about 15.3 per cent of total households reported Rs. 101,450 crore or 57.4 per cent of total debt for non-productive purposes.

 

Out of 39.2 million indebted rural households, 19.3 million households reported an amount of Rs. 59,078 crore or 53.0 per cent of their total debt for productive purposes. A sum of Rs. 52,390 crore or 47.0 per cent of the total debt outstanding had been spent on non-productive purposes, by 22.9 million indebted households.

 

In contrast, in urban areas, 8.2 million indebted households reported  an amount of Rs. 49,060 or 75.1 per cent of their total debt for non-productive purposes. A small portion of  urban households numbering 2.1 million debt for productive purposes with a sum of Rs. 16,267 crore or about 25 per cent of their total debt.

 
III

Productive Purposes

As stated, the expenditure incurred for productive purposes can be incurred in farm or non-farm business and for capital/ current expenditures. Productive utilization of debt incurred by households will help augment their economic activities and thereby promote economic welfare. On the other hand, if debt is incurred for purposes, which do not produce any increase in production of goods and services, then such expenditure gets classified as unproductive. Hence, understanding of the purposes of loan taken becomes crucial. Thus, purposes of loan taken have been broadly  classified, as stated,  as productive purposes and non-productive purposes,  i.e. for household expenditure.

Farm business includes household economic activities like cultivation, including cultivation of plantation and orchard crops and processing of produce on the farm, e.g., paddy hulling and gur making if it is carried out in the firm by indigenous method. It also includes ancillary agriculture activities such as livestock raising, poultry, fishing, dairy, bee keeping and other allied activities coming under tabulation category A and B of the National Industrial Classification 1998. Expenditure incurred in farm business on account of purchase, own construction, major repairs, building and other land improvements including reclamation of land, alterations and improvement of buildings and other constructions constitute capital expenditure. The current expenditure includes expenditure for purchase of seeds, manure, fodder, payment of wages, rent, land revenue, etc. and also expenditure on normal repairs and maintenance of building, machinery and transport equipment, furniture and fixtures and household durables meant for farm business.

Table 2: Estimated Number of Households and Debt

Productive Purposes - Farm Business

 

Rural

Urban

All

Number of Households in ' 00

Productive

193582

(100.0)

19767

(100.0)

213349

(100.0)

Farm Business

151187

(78.1)

224

(1.1)

151411

(71.0)

  Capital Expenditure

81932

(42.3)

92

(0.5)

82024

(38.4)

  Current Expenditure

75476

(39.0)

132

(0.7)

75608

(35.4)

Amount of Cash Debt in Rs.crore

Productive

59078

(100.0)

16267

(100.0)

75345

(100.0)

Farm Business

45702

(77.4)

5689

(35.0)

51391

(68.2)

  Capital Expenditure

29873

(50.6)

4685

(28.8)

34558

(45.9)

  Current Expenditure

15829

(26.8)

1004

(6.2)

16833

(22.3)

Note: Data on households is as given by NSSO in their report No. 501  Sum of individual will not tally with the total Data on cash debt is worked out by applying the respective ratios to the total debt.

Figures in brackets are percentages to total.

Source: NSSO (2005), AIDIS, Report No. 500.

 

            Out of the 21.3 million indebted households who reported of Rs. 75,345 crore debt for productive purposes, 15.1 million households or 71 per cent of the households, reported an amount (of Rs. 51,391 crore or 68.2 per cent of productive debt) for productive purposes on farm business. Among these households 38.4 per cent reported debt for capital expenditure and 35.4 per cent for current expenditure.Of the debt for productive purposes, an amount of RS.16,833 crore has been for current expenditure and Rs. 34,558 crore has been for capital expenditure purposes ( Table 2). In rural areas, 15.1 million households (78.2 per cent of the households who reported debt for productive purpose as on 30-6-2002), reported debt for expenditure on farm business to the tune of Rs. 45,702 crore with capital expenditure purpose amounting to Rs. 29,873 crore and for current expenditure, Rs. 15,829 crore. In urban areas a tiny 1.1 per cent household reported debt for incurred expenditure on farm business aggregating  Rs. 5,689 crore with capital and current expenditure purpose amounting to Rs. 4,685 crore and Rs. 1,004 crore, respectively.

Non-Farm Business is defined as all activities of households other than those covered in the farm business. This covers manufacturing, mining and quarrying, trade, hotels and restaurant, transport, construction, repairing and other services. Any activities carried out in non-household enterprises are excluded from the above definition. Also, non-farm business enterprises, which were registered under section 2m(i) or 2m(ii) and Section 85 of Factories Act 1948 and bidi and cigar manufacturing establishments registered under   Bidi and Cigar Workers (condition of employment) Act, 1966 were also not included in the above definition. The expenditure is treated as capital, if the households spend the cash dues for purchase, own construction, additions, alterations, major repairs and improvement of buildings, other constructions, machinery and transport equipment, furniture and fixture, etc. Expenditure on bundings and other land improvement including reclamation of land, pertaining to non-farm business also included in capital expenditure. Current expenditure on non-farm business has also been includes expenditure on account of purchase of raw materials, fuel and lubricants, payment of rent, salary and wages, hire charges of machinery and equipment, etc., and normal repairs and maintenance of buildings, construction, machinery and equipment including transport equipment, furniture and fixtures and household durables meant for the non-farm business.

Table 3 : Estimated Number of Households and Reported Debt 

Productive Purposes - Non-Farm Business

 

Rural

Urban

All

Number of Households in ' 00

Productive

193582

(100.0)

19767

(100.0)

213349

(100.0)

Non-Farm Business

42305

(21.9)

14896

(75.4)

57201

(26.8)

  Capital Expenditure

30409

(15.7)

10341

(52.3)

40750

(19.1)

  Current Expenditure

12356

(6.4)

4787

(24.2)

17143

(8.0)

Amount of Cash Debt in Rs.crore

Productive

59078

(100.0)

16267

(100.0)

75345

(100.0)

Non-Farm Business

13376

(22.6)

12869

(79.1)

26245

(34.8)

  Capital Expenditure

10255

(17.4)

10779

(66.3)

21034

(27.9)

  Current Expenditure

3121

(5.3)

2090

(12.8)

5211

(6.9)

Note: Data on households is as given by NSSO in their report No. 501.Sum of individual will not tally with the total. Data on cash debt is worked out by applying the respective ratios to the total debt 

Figures in brackets are percentages to total.

Source: NSSO (2005), AIDIS, Report No. 501.

 

An amount of Rs. 26,245 crore or about 35 per cent of the total debt for productive purposes, has been reported for non-farm business by 5.7 million households as on 30-6-2002. Of these households, the incidence of debt between capital and current expenditures on non-farm business is 19.1 per cent and 8.0 per cent respectively, and they had absorbed 27.9 per cent and 6.9 per cent of the debt of Rs. 75,345  crore  reported for productive purposes.

In rural areas ,2 million households reported debt for productive purposes in non-farm business aggregating to Rs. 13,376 crore with capital expenditure being Rs. 10, 255 crore and current expenditure at Rs. 3,121 crore.

Unlike rural households, urban households reported debt spent more for productive non-farm business. About 1.5 million indebted households, forming 75.4 per cent of urban households reporting debt for productive purposes reported debt for non-farm business an amount of Rs. 12,869 crore.. On this amount, debt for  capital and current expenditure purposes amounted to Rs. 10,779 crore and 2,090 crore. 

IV

Non-Productive Purposes

As defined earlier debt for  non-productive purposes includes household expenditure, expenditure on litigation, repayment of debt, financial investment and other expenditure.

Household expenditure is defined to include purchase of residential plot, construction, addition, alteration of building for residential purposes, purchase of durable goods and assets, clothes, etc. and expenditure of medical treatment, education, marriages, ceremonies etc.

Out of the 31.1 million indebted households who reported debt of Rs. 1,01,450 crore for non-productive purposes, 26.0 million households (or 83.6 per cent) reported debt for expenditure on household goods amounting of  Rs. 76,577 crore or 75.5 per cent of total debt for  non-productive purposes.

Similar trend is also witnessed among both rural and urban households (Table 4).

 

Table 4: Estimated Number of Households and Debt

Non-Productive Purposes

 

Rural

Urban

All

Number of Households in ' 00

Non-Productive

229106

(100.0)

81592

(100.0)

310698

(100.0)

  Household Expend.

190816

(83.3)

68945

(84.5)

259761

(83.6)

  Others

42840

(18.7)

14229

(17.4)

57069

(18.4)

Amount of Cash Debt in Rs. crore

Non-Productive

52390

(100.0)

49060

(100.0)

101450

(100.0)

  Household Expend.

39014

(74.5)

37563

(76.6)

76577

(75.5)

  Others

13376

(25.5)

11497

(23.4)

24873

(24.5)

Note: Data on households is as given by NSSO in their report No. 501, Data on cash debt is worked out by applying the respective ratios to the total debt .Sum of individual items will not tally with the total.

Figures in brackets are percentages to total.

Source: NSSO (2005), AIDIS, Report No. 501.

 

V

Purpose of Households Debt  by Occupational  Categories

Rural Households

The purpose of debt of rural household classified by their occupational categories, i.e., by cultivators and non-cultivator categories are presented in Table 5.

All rural households operating at least 0.002 hectare of land during the last 365 days preceding the date of survey have been defined as cultivator households. As per the survey they have borrowed more for productive purposes than by non-cultivator households. While the share of the former was around 62 per cent of their debt as on June 30, 2002, the latter held only a share of 28 per cent for productive purposes.

Out of 88.2 million cultivator households, 26,2 million (or 29.7 per cent) households  are indebted. Among them, 15.7 million households ( or 17.8 per cent total cultivator households) invested about 62 per cent of their total debt of Rs. 505,777 crore in productive purposes. The remaining debt of Rs. 311,310 crore (or 38 per cent of their debt) was utilized for non-productive purposes by 12.9 million indebted cultivator households. Household expenditure is the major item of purpose among non-productive purposes and the debt reported against this purpose is estimated to be Rs.226,333 crore.

 

Rural households operating no land or holding land less than 0.002 hectare, are termed as non-cultivator households and they are further classified into agricultural labourers and artisans. As referred to above, about 28 per cent of their cash debt was for productive purposes and the remaining amount was for non-productive purposes with Rs. 163,675 crore meant for household expenditure.

Table 5 : Purpose of Debt of Rural Households – Occupational Categories

 

Cultivator

Non-Cultivator

 

No.of Hhs

Cash Dues

No.of Hhs

Cash Dues

 

Million

Rs.crore

Million

Rs.crore

Productive Purpose

15.7

(17.8)

505777

(61.9)

3.60

(6.1)

84218

(28.3)

    Farm Business

13.6

(15.4)

428971

(52.5)

1.50

(2.5)

27676

(9.3)

    Non-Farm Business

2.1

(2.4)

76806

(9.4)

2.10

(3.6)

56542

(19.0)

Non-Productive Purpose

12.9

(14.6)

311310

(38.1)

10.00

(16.8)

212480

(71.4)

    Household Expenditure

10.7

(12.1)

226333

(27.7)

8.50

(14.2)

163675

(55.0)

    Others

2.2

(2.3)

84977

(10.4)

1.50

(2.5)

48805

(16.4)

All Purpose

26.2

(29.7)

817087

(100.0)

13.00

(21.8)

297591

(100.0)

Note: Figures in brackets are percentage to total households/cash loans of respective

 occupational categories. Total will not tally due to rounding off and not reported

Source: NSSO (2005), AIDIS, Report No. 501.

 

Urban Households

            Urban households are broadly grouped under ‘self employed’ and ‘others’. Self-employed households are those engaged in the farm or non-farm enterprises of their households and in urban areas, a household was considered as self-employed, if major source of income during 365 days preceding the date of survey was derived from self-employment of its members. Urban households reporting the major source of its income was derived from regular wage/salaried employment of members were treated as ‘regular wage/salaried’ households. Casual labour household are those household whose members derives their income mainly from casual wage employment. All the remaining urban households were treated as ‘other’ households.

Out of 20.1 million self-employed households, 3.60 million or 17.9 per cent are indebted. Among them, 1.50 million households forming 7.5 per cent of total self employed households, invested about 55 per cent of their total debt, Rs. 134,604 crore in productive purposes. The remaining debt of Rs. 108,803 crore or about 45 per cent of their total debt has been utilised for non-productive purpose by 2.25 million self-employed households. Household expenditure is the major item of expenditure among non-productive purposes and debt for this purpose is estimated to be 79,837 crore.

 

Table 6: Purpose of Debt Urban Households – Occupational Categories

 

Self-Employed

Others

 

No.of Hhs

Cash Dues

No.of Hhs

Cash Dues

 

Million

Rs.crore

Million

Rs.crore

Productive Purpose

1.50

(7.5)

134604

(55.3)

0.46

(1.3)

27864

(6.8)

    Farm Business

0.34

(1.7)

28235

(11.6)

0.14

(0.4)

5327

(1.3)

    Non-Farm Business

1.16

(5.8)

106369

(43.7)

0.32

(0.9)

22537

(5.5)

Non-Productive Purpose

2.25

(11.2)

108803

(44.7)

5.91

(16.7)

381492

(93.1)

    Household Expenditure

1.89

(9.4)

79837

(32.8)

4.99

(14.1)

295441

(72.1)

    Others

0.36

(2.3)

28965

(11.9)

0.92

(2.6)

86461

(21.1)

All-Purpose

3.60

(17.9)

243407

(100.0)

6.30

(17.8)

409766

(100.0) 

Note: Figures in brackets are percentage to total households/cash loans of respective

occupational categories. Total will not tally with sum of the component due to rounding off and not reported

Source: NSSO (2005), AIDIS, Report No. 501.

 

The urban households which are termed as ‘Others’ utilized 93.1 per cent of their debt forn non-productive purposes and in particular for household expenditure which amounts to  Rs. 295,441 crore or 72.1 per cent of their total debt (Table 6). Their outlay on productive purpose is less than 7 per cent of their total debt.

VI

Trend in Productive Debt Over the Years

            The trends in the share of debt for productive purpose over the period from 1951 for rural households have been presented in Table 7. The percentage of cash debt spent on productive purposes was at 43 per cent in 1951, which after falling to 38 per cent in 1962, picked up in the next two decades to reach 66 per cent by 1981. However, in the next two decades, there has been a drastic fall in the share to 53.0 per cent in 2002 (Data for 1991 in this respect, appear an aberration).

 

Overall, the portion of total household debt in rural areas utilized for consumption purpose has been on rise rather for productive purposes.

 

Table 7: Percentage Distribution of Cash Debt by Purpose of Loan

Rural Households

Purpose of Loans

1951

1962

1971

1981

1991

2002

Farm-Business

37.2

32.5

44.6

60.0

15.0

41.0

  Capital Expenditure

27.9

23.9

31.1

42.4

12.0

26.8

  Current Expenditure

9.3

8.6

13.5

17.6

3.0

14.2

Non-Farm Business

6.6

5.9

5.5

8.9

7.8

12.0

  Capital Expenditure

1.7

3.8

7.2

5.8

9.2

  Current Expenditure

4.2

1.7

1.7

2.0

2.8

Productive Purpose

43.8

38.4

50.1

65.9

22.8

53.0

Non-Productive

56.3

61.6

49.9

34.1

77.2

47.0

  Household Expenditure

50.2

51.3

40.9

22.4

40.1

35.0

  Other Purposes

6.1

10.3

9.0

8.7

37.1

12.1

   Repayment of Debt

4.9

1.8

0.8

 

1.4

   Expenditure on Litigation

1.6

0.7

0.2

 

0.3

   Financial Investment

0.2

0.7

0.9

 

0.7

All

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Note : Other purpose includes also not reported/unspecified.

 

 

Source: See Table 1 and NSSO 48th Round Survey

 

 

             RBI(1997), K.G.K.Subba Rao, K.S.Ramachandra Rao and A.K.Tripathi,

            " Indebtedness of Rural Households-A Profile", RBI Occassional Papers

               June-September.

 

 

 

 

 

Cultivator and Non-Cultivator Households

            A better insight in to the changing pattern in purpose of debt of rural households, is brought out by analyzing the behaviour of cultivator and non-cultivator households in rural areas (Tables 8 and 9).

Cultivator households have a much higher proportion of debt earmarked for productive purposes than non-cultivator households.  But, the fluctuating trend shown above are generally valid for both the categories of rural households. It is interesting to note for cultivator households, the declining share of farm business expenditure (from 63.8 per cent in 1981 to 52.5 per cent in 2002) in the total debt and within it, that of capital expenditure (from 45.3 per cent to 34.3 per cent)  (Table 8).  The increase in the share of non-farm business expenditure for capital or current expenditures purposes has not compensated  the decline in share of farm business expenditure. 

 

Table 8: Percentage Distribution of Cash Debt by Purpose of

Loans - Rural Areas - Cultivator Households

Purpose of Loans

1962

1971

1981

1991

2002

Farm-Business

36.6

49.7

63.8

17.6

52.5

  Capital Expenditure

26.8

34.7

45.3

14.4

34.3

  Current Expenditure

9.8

15.0

18.5

3.2

18.2

Non-Farm Business

3.5

4.3

7.8

6.2

9.4

  Capital Expenditure

1.4

3.2

6.3

4.7

7.4

  Current Expenditure

2.1

1.1

1.5

1.5

2.0

Productive Purpose

40.1

54.0

71.6

23.8

62.9

Non-Productive

60.0

46.0

28.4

76.2

38.1

  Household Expenditure

49.2

37.8

20.0

36.1

27.7

  Other Purposes

10.8

7.2

8.4

39.1

10.4

    Repayment of Debt

5.0

1.5

0.1

 

1.5

    Expenditure on Litigation

1.8

0.7

0.8

 

0.3

    Financial Investment

0.2

0.2

1.0

 

0.6

All

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Source: See Table 7

 

 

 

 

 

Table 9: Percentage Distribution of Cash Dues by Purpose of

Loans - Rural Non- Cultivator Households

Purpose of Loans                       1962   1971   1981   1991   2002

Farm-Business

8.7

7.5

14.3

3.1

9.3

  Capital Expenditure

6.9

5.0

8.4

2.4

6.3

  Current Expenditure

1.8

2.5

5.9

0.7

3.0

Non-Farm Business

20.2

13.7

23.3

13.6

19.0

  Capital Expenditure

3.5

8.0

18.8

9.8

14.2

  Current Expenditure

16.7

5.7

4.5

3.8

4.8

Productive Purpose

29.0

21.2

37.6

16.7

28.5

Non-Productive

71.0

78.8

62.4

83.3

71.5

  Household Expenditure

63.6

63.4

51.0

55.2

55.0

  Other Purposes

7.3

15.4

11.4

28.1

16.5

    Repayment of Debt

4.4

4.0

1.5

 

1.3

    Expenditure on Litigation

1.0

1.2

0.0

 

0.2

    Financial Investment

0.1

1.0

0.5

 

1.0

All

100.0

100.0

100.0