Growing Affluence, Declining Nutrition: A Contemporary Indian Quandary?

This paper examines how the patterns of India’s food consumption have been changing in recent times in line with her faster economic growth and generally rising affluence levels. The study, also, presents evidence on the nutritional implications of these changes to reinforce some of the findings on the observed changes in the food consumption patterns. A decline in agricultural, particularly food grain, output and availability per capita and stagnant public sector investment in the sector have become issues of contemporary debate and concern in India. There are ominous signs that India is emerging again as a net importer of essential food grains, after several years of being a net exporter. This paper makes a contribution mainly to one aspect of the wide-ranging debate, viz. the nutritional implications of the changing food production and consumption scenario as it is unfolding in India. JEL Classification Nos.: C2, D1, E2, F1, F4