This paper investigates the prevalence and characteristics of poor hand-to-mouth (P-HtM) and wealthy hand-to-mouth (W-HtM) households in India—an emerging economy where high household savings coexist with limited liquidity and weak credit access. Using a harmonized dataset that combines two nationally representative surveys, we construct household-level balance sheets including income, consumption, and liquid and illiquid assets. We classify households into poor and wealthy HtM categories following the methodology of Kaplan et al. (2014), and use a range of machine learning models to impute missing income data. Our findings indicate that while P-HtM households account for 2–5% of the population, W-HtM households comprise a much larger share—15–27%, with total HtM prevalence ranging from 17–32%. Classifications based solely on net worth substantially understate this share. We also find that average propensities to consume are similar across HtM and non-HtM groups, highlighting the broader financial constraints facing Indian households. These results underscore the importance of distinguishing between liquidity and net worth when evaluating consumption behavior and the transmission of fiscal and monetary policy in developing economies.