By Rajiv Shah Given India’s low per capita consumption base, food and beverages continue to account for a large part of any households’ final consumption expenditure. If economists are to be believed, the distribution of consumption expenditure between food and non-food items reflects the actual economic well-being of the population. In general, poor households are expected to spend substantially more on food items as against non-food items. Indeed, the share of expenditure on food items is expected to decline with development and economic prosperity. The latest monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) figures, released by the National Sample Survey (NSS) in its report “Key Indicators of Household Consumer Expenditure in India”, released in June 2013, suggests this trend. Whether it is India or its states, the percentage spending on food items has gone down across the board, which signifies overall prosperity of the population, and the ability of people to spend more on non-food items. N