The household balance sheet puzzle in India | Number Theory

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The National Statistical Office (NSO) released National Account Statistics (NAS) tables 2025 on Friday. NAS tables give a detailed break-up of the national income data over and above what is provided in the GDP numbers. To be sure, the NAS data comes with a year’s lag and the 2025 tables give data up to 2023-24. While NAS tables give a lot of information, their data on the household sector, especially its savings part has been widely followed in the post-pandemic period because of a falling trend in household savings as a share of GDP. The latest data shows that the trend continues but we need more information to make sense of what exactly is leading to it. Here are four charts which explain the argument in detail.

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Total household savings are not very low by historical standards

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