Estimation and Spatial Mapping of Incidence of Indebtedness in the State of Karnataka in India by Combining Survey and Census Data

Abstract

Information about the household debt behaviour in different occupational categories is of key importance to the Governmental organization for taking effective policy measures targeting the vulnerable groups. This paper illustrates small area estimation (SAE) methodology to estimate proportion of indebted households in rural areas for the two major occupation categories- rural cultivator and rural non-cultivator as well as for both categories combined together across all the 30 districts of Karnataka state in India using the data of All India Debt and Investment Survey 2012-13 and population census 2011. The findings show that the district-level estimates of incidence of indebtedness obtained from SAE are more precise than the direct survey estimates. A spatial map has also been produced to observe the inequality in distribution of indebtedness within districts and in each occupational category across districts. Such maps are definitely useful for framing consistent policy actions and fund disbursement for the indebted household mass.