with everything from a pair of jeans to a nose job available on emis these days its no surprise that the average indian family is deeper in debt now than ever before though a households assets have become more valuable over the past decade its debts too have grown at times outpacing the former in rural india where people borrow from both financial institutions and moneylenders the average debt per rural household jumped from rs 7539 in 2002 to rs 32522 in 2012 a hike of over 330 after adjusting for inflation in urban areas the average debt zoomed from rs 11771 in 2002 to rs 84625 in 2012 an inflation adjusted jump of nearly 620 household debt varies widely across states the southern states are the most indebted over 40 rural households and over 30 urban ones live in debt odisha however tops the debt tally richer states like punjab and haryana and those at the bottom of the economic pile have a more balanced household economy in delhi average asset value has exploded from rs 57 lakh in 2002 to nearly rs 25 lakh in 2012 but so has its average debt from rs 1441to rs 33130 both have been driven up by skyhigh real estate prices in the past decade this data of household finances evolving in a globalizing economy emerge from a recently released national sample survey organisation nsso carried out in 201213 compared to 2002 the share of indebted households increased from 27 to 31 in rural areas and from 18 to 22 in urban areas in 2012 in telangana the share is a shocking high of 59 in rural areas richer states haryana punjab kerala gujarat maharashtra have large household assets in both rural and urban areas himachal and jk also fall in this category being states where land ownership is more evenly distributed historically the lowest assets are expectedly among poorer states of odisha bihar assam jharkhand and west bengal andhras the odd man out among the bottom rankers trends in the growth of debt and assets can be seen in one parameter the debt to asset ratio dar if debt rises faster than value of assets dar increases people rush to borrow but are losing value a falling dar means family budgets are healthier dar in bengal chhattisgarh maharashtra and mps dipped since 2002 while jharkhand and punjab exhibit no change across india dars increased marginally in rural areas from 28 to 33 in urban areas from 28 to 37 between 2002 and 2012