The Indian middle class now owns more gadgets and is a little better educated, but is still not as prosperous as has been believed to be, says data from the 2011-12 round of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) conducted by the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER). The data, collected from 42,000 families, shows that with rising incomes — the real median income grew from Rs. 28,200 per year in 2004-05 to Rs. 37,500 in 2011-12 — asset ownership of the middle class has also increased. Purchase of air-conditioners, colour TVs, refrigerators, cars, laptops and credit cards has doubled over the last seven years, and cellphone ownership has exploded from 7 per cent of the population in 2004-05 to 82 per cent. The Hindu is reporting exclusively from the findings of India IHDS 2011-12, the largest independent nationally representative sample survey . The annual income of the middle class remains relatively low. If the Indian population is divided into five classes o