New Delhi, Aug. 23 -- For a decade, India's growth story came with an asterisk. The Indian economy expanded, poverty seemed to recede, and yet a nagging question hung over it all: was anyone other than those on the top rungs being lifted? Inequality, most assumed, was baked in. It was a permanent tax on the promise of high growth.

India's latest household consumption data tells a different story that deserves to be heard. Between 2011-12 and 2023-24, real household consumption rose decisively and inequality narrowed, most strikingly in urban India. Growth and equity, long assumed to be at war, have started moving in the same direction. That is a structural turn.

What spending data tells us: The evidence comes from the Household Consumpt...