IMPACT OF INFLATION ON STANDARD OF LIVING OF HOUSEHOLDS IN GUWAHATI, ASSAM

This study has been undertaken to observe the potential impact of inflation on the standard of living of the population in Guwahati, Assam. Inflation being a prominent phenomenon in every economy, casts multifaceted impacts on the various agents of the economy impacting the overall living standard of the population. To obtain the requisite potential outcomes, the presence of inflation has to be established first, which was carried out by analysing the price indices for a given time period extracted from secondary sources , indicating the positive presence of inflation. Once that the presence of inflation has been established, subsequently, the indicators of the standard of living was evaluated, which were sourced from conduction of an empirical study. Following the analysis of the parameters, viz, income, expenditure and availability of domestic amenities, it could be profoundly concluded that, inflation significantly impacted income and expenditure negatively, however, availability of domestic amenities indicated positive outcomes. Comprehensively, it could be established that households were indeed hit hard by inflation, despite of which, they could successfully retain their living standards in terms of basic amenities. However simultaneously, in the attempts of retaining their access to domestic amenities, they were exempted from affording luxuries which halted their standard of living at a stagnated level, ceasing them to further push forward.