Income mobility across castes in India: a longitudinal analysis

This paper employs two waves of longitudinal datasets between 1993–1994 and 2004–2005 and 2004–2005 and 2011–2012 to investigate the differences in income mobility across caste groups in India. We analyse three sets of nationally representative data from the Human Development Profile of India (HDPI) 1993–1994 and the Indian Human Development Surveys 2004–2005 and 2011–2012. Moving away from traditional measures, we rely on a graphical depiction of mobility using density curves and growth incidence curves (GIC) to analyse potential differences in relative income across caste groups. We also support our results using income elasticity regressions and controlled for region, religion, source of income, and education in the base year and state fixed effects. The results reflect that starting from a similar base period income quartile, upper caste households are likely to experience higher growth in their income position compared to SCs and STs. Despite this, households from scheduled castes have shown a slight improvement in their average income positions. The enduring nature of caste-based income disparities is evident, underscoring its potential role in determining economic outcomes in contemporary India, even after accounting for prominent socio-economic factors.