Explaining Calorie Consumption Puzzle in India: An Empirical Study based on National and International Data-Sets since 1990s

During 1990–2009, India witnessed a very peculiar trend: of declining per capita calorie consumption along with a rise in per capita real income. However, in the survey of 2011–12 there was evidence of a substantial rise in calorie consumption, particularly among lower segments of the population. There are various explanations for the declining trend in the literature, which we broadly categorise into voluntary and involuntary reduction in the demand for calories. Voluntary reduction means that people are voluntarily giving up consumption of calories.