The past decade was witness to India?s all-round growth story with increased housing, mobile, telephone and television penetration, a jump in vehicle ownership and increased electrification, according to the findings of Census 2011.

According to the Houselisting and Housing Census data (also known as first phase of Census 2011) released on Tuesday, the 54% jump in urban housing in India has translated into an overall addition of 80 million census houses in 2011 which is 33% more than the 2001 data. This has led to the reduction in housing gap in India in the last 10 years.

Also, with 67% households using electricity, the rural-urban gap in electricity usage has narrowed in the last 10 years.

On the communication front, there is a 16% increase in the number of television sets in the country in the last decade while the penetration of mobile phones is 59 per 100 households. According to the first phase Census 2011 report, 63% of Indian households have telephone/mobile facility, with a majority (82%) in urban area and 54% in rural area. The report points out that the last decade witnessed about a 15-point decline in the use of radio and transistors.

In modes of transport, 21% households owned two-wheelers while 5% owned four-wheelers. ?There is an increase of 9 points in two-wheeler and 2 points in four-wheelers compared to 2001 numbers,? the report said.

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Also, 59% of the households are availing banking facilities with 68% usage in urban and 54% in rural areas. However, the rural urban difference has reduced from 19 to 13 points, it said.

As regards amenities available with households, the report said 87% of households are using tap, tube-well, hand pump and covered well as the main sources of drinking water while 43.5% use tap water. However, only 47% of households have source of water within premises while 36% of households have to fetch water from a source located within 500 meters in rural areas and 100 meters in urban areas. ?17% still fetch drinking water from a source located more than 500 meters away in rural areas or 100 meters in urban area,? it said.

These data are part of the Census of India 2011 which was conducted in two phases. The first phase is called the Houselisting and Housing Census and it was undertaken a few months prior to the second phase termed Population Enumeration. These data were collected between April to September 2010 by visiting each household. ?The objective of the Houselisting and Housing Census Operations is to identify each building/census house and also to ascertain the quality of the census house, amenities accessible to it and assets available to the households living in those census houses,? an official statement said.