New Delhi, Oct. 11 -- For much of India's development journey, economic disadvantage was relatively easy to see. A household without electricity, a toilet or clean cooking fuel, with few consumer durables and little connectivity, was likely to occupy the lower reaches of the economic ladder. Material deprivation and economic deprivation often travelled together. That made what a household possessed, or lacked, a useful indicator of how it was doing.

That India is disappearing remarkably quickly. Over the past two decades, Indian households have undergone an extraordinary material transformation.

Our household data shows electricity access rising from 75% in 2004-05 to an estimated 99% in 2025-26. Toilet access has increased from 52.9% t...