National Household Income Survey to seek info on income sources, govt schemes, others

The NHIS is scheduled to be launched in February, 2026
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The National Household Income Survey (NHIS) will seek information about income from the Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, sovereign gold bonds, ESoP, etc, besides other avenues. Expenditure information on alimony, child care, parent care etc. will also be sought. The questionnaire includes ‘live-in’ as an option under marital status of the family member, besides general information.

“NHIS is scheduled to be launched in February, 2026. This will be the first-ever pan-India survey focused on measuring household income, representing a significant step toward filling a long-standing data gap in India’s socio-economic statistics system,” the Statistics Ministry said while releasing pre-testing report along with a feedback on draft schedule.

The Ministry has sought suggestions for modifications to existing questions or proposals for new items, particularly on various sources of household income, wages and salaries, self-employment earnings, property income, remittances, or any other relevant component of household income which can be submitted  by October 30.

Questions related with ‘Income from Employment – regular wage/salary’ will t ake into account the number of months worked during the last 365 days. Monthly gross salary will include allowances received (including overtime allowance, shift allowance, project allowance) and others, including tips, fees of consultants, etc. for the last.

Required info

Responses will be sought about the amount received as bonus in the last 365 days (festival bonus, profit-sharing or production bonuses or other forms of profit-related payment, performance-based incentive); commission from sales; sale value of shares offered as part of employee remuneration (employee stock option); leave encashments; remuneration for time not worked such as for annual leave, holidays or other paid leave, leave fare concession, etc.

Information about severance and termination pay, termination benefits, including social security benefits like maturity benefits of CGEGIS, etc. will also be sought. The survey will also record amount charged as directors’ fees (fees given to the directors for attending meetings), sitting fees of experts etc.

Questions under ‘Income from Transfer Receipts’ will be about pension (payments received from companies/government after retirement), transfer receipts from other households in the form of family support payments (such as alimony, child and parental support), regular receipts from inheritances and trust funds, and regular monetary gifts received during the last month.

Details about the number of beneficiaries in a household as on date of the survey; the number of months during which the beneficiaries of a household received government aid in the last 365 days, and the total amount received under various government schemes, will be recorded.

Scheme, expenses

Government schemes include those dealing with pension, unemployment allowance, Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, among others, along with cash transfer schemes under the State government. Questions related to expenditure details have been divided into three categories – food items, non-food items (consumable services) and non-food items (durable goods)

Another set of questions is related to particulars of direct tax (income tax, professional tax, etc.) paid. This will comprise details about whether or not members of a household are taxpayers, as well as details about the amount paid as tax (net of refunds) in the last financial year.

A pre-survey sample exercise revealed that information about salary details, income from financial assets, income tax paid, expenditure incurred on jewellery, etc. were found to be sensitive by the respondents. Moreover, a large number of respondents were uncomfortable disclosing information about income from different sources. “Most households refused to answer the question related to income tax,” stated the pre-testing report.

Published on October 13, 2025