The NSSO conducted two important pilot surveys with a moderate sample size. The first one was on income, consumption and savings conducted during September 1983–December 1984, while the second one (January–June 2000) was aimed at finding out appropriate reference periods for measuring household consumption. In between, another pilot survey covering five States was conducted in 1986–87 to test the appropriateness of ‘last month’ as the reference period used in most of the surveys on household consumption.