People Reluctant to Disclose Income

A pilot survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO), ahead of preparing the draft for the National Household Income Survey, has revealed that people are hesitant to disclose information related to their salaries, income from financial assets, expenditure on jewelry, or income tax payments.

This pre-test exercise—a standard procedure conducted before deploying field staff—aims to identify issues related to clarity, flow, and structure of survey tools in large-scale socio-economic surveys. The findings showed that about 95% of respondents were uncomfortable sharing details about their income from various sources.

It is generally believed that collecting such data is extremely difficult, as most people do not wish to disclose their income.

The pre-test survey also revealed that both rural and urban households tend to exaggerate their expenditures and underreport their income. Furthermore, respondents found it difficult to recall or accurately state details of their financial assets, as many were unaware of the interest earned from their savings accounts, fixed deposits, or other financial instruments.

The NSO is currently preparing to launch India’s first nationwide household income survey in February next year. However, the reluctance of respondents to answer these key questions could pose a challenge to the successful execution of the survey.

The NSO had earlier attempted to collect household income data during its 9th (1955), 15th (1959), 19th (1964), and 24th (1969–70) rounds, but those efforts remained incomplete due to respondents’ unwillingness to cooperate.

Hence, learning from past experience, the NSO is now focusing on robust preparatory measures.

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