A panel headed by former PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan has dismissed the Tendulkar Committee report on estimating poverty and said that the number of poor in India was much higher in 2011-12 at 29.5 percent of the population, which means that almost three out of 10 persons are poor.

As per the report, individuals spending below Rs 47 a day in cities and Rs 32 in rural areas would be considered poor, much above the Rs 33-per-day mark for urban poor and Rs 27 for the rural poor suggested by the Suresh Tendulkar Committee.