Why Is India Saving Less?

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Bulletin released on September 18, 2023, published data on the “Flow of Financial Assets and Liabilities of Households”. This data is about financial assets and financial liabilities of households across India. The surveys conducted by wealth managers or wealth surveyors are usually confined to the cities and towns, and hence the outcome would be different but this one includes every corner of the country, including rural areas.  Financial assets, in the RBI report, are deployments in bank deposits, other deposits (non-banks), life insurance, Provident Fund (PF) and pension, small savings schemes in post office, and investments in mutual funds and equity. Financial liabilities are loans from banks and other entities. Data And Trends The data led to a lot of debate. It was revealed that the net savings of households have dropped to a...