SCIENTIFIC LETTER An Update of B.G. Prasad and Kuppuswamy Socio-Economic Status Classification Scale for Indian Population Tanushri M. Dalvi 1 & Mahesh R. Khairnar 1 & Shrivardhan R. Kalghatgi 1 Received: 17 December 2019 / Accepted: 13 January 2020 # Dr. K C Chaudhuri Foundation 2020 To the Editor: The two most widely used socio-economic status scales (SES) for classifying the people by socio- economic status are Kuppuswamy SES scale and B.G. Prasad SES. Both the indices are dynamic and depend upon the consumer price index (CPI). Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an index of the variation in prices for retail goods and services that households acquire for the pur- pose of consumption. CPI numbers are widely used as an indicator of inflation. Labour Bureau, Govt. of India re- leases three CPI: CPI for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) base 2001, CPI for Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL) base 1986–87 and CPI for Rural Labourers (CPI-RL) base 1984–85. The most commonly used and the most appro- priate CPI for revision of socio-economic classifications has been CPI (IW) as it represents the expenditure of a normal working class family. B.G. Prasad scale was first introduced in 1961 which can be used for both urban and rural population and was revised by the author himself in 1968 and 1970 [ 1]. Kuppuswamy socio-economic scale is the most widely used scale for urban population which was given in the in the year 1976 and further modified by various authors [2, 3]. The updated B. G. Prasad SES scale calculated on the basis of CPI value (328) for November 2019 is given in Table 1. Dynamic nature of inflation may pose a risk to the validity of any published update on socio-economic status. Hence an online tool has been made available to enable real-time update of the Prasad’ s social classifica- tion [4]. Updated Kuppuswamy socio-economic status scale for 2019 considering updated occupational divisions and updated income scale has been shown in Table 2. The advantages and limitations of this scale have been previ- ously discussed extensively by Laharia C et al. [5]. Using these indices would probably give a more accurate picture of socio-economic status classification for the entire urban and rural population and for the country as a whole. Compliance with Ethical Standards Conflict of Interest None. References 1. Prasad BG. Changes proposed in social classification of Indian fam- ilies. J Indian Med Assoc. 1970;55:198–9. 2. Kuppuswamy B. Manual of socioeconomic status (Urban), 1st ed. Delhi: Manasayan; 1981. p. 66–72. 3. Khairnar MR, Wadgave U, Shimpi PV. Kuppuswamy’ s socio- economic status scale: a revision of occupation and income criteria for 2016. Indian J Pediatr. 2017;84:3–6. 4. Sharma R. Online interactive calculator for real-time update of the Prasad’ s social classification. Available at: www.prasadscaleupdate. weebly.com. Accessed 22 July 2019. 5. Lahariya C. ‘Flogging a dead horse’: use of socio-economic status scales in health research in India. Indian J Pediatr. 2017;84:1–2. Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdic- tional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. * Tanushri M. Dalvi tanushreedalvi@ymail.com; tanushreedalvi92@gmail.com 1 Department of Public Health Dentistry, Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be) University, Dental College and Hospital, Wanlesswadi, Sangli 416416, India The Indian Journal of Pediatrics https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-020-03200-7