How the pattern of inequality in maternal healthcare service utilisation has evolved after the adoption of the National Rural Health Mission in 2005 is analysed here and the absolute as well as relative measures of inequality at the state level are estimated. National Family Health Survey data from the third round (2006) and the fourth round (2016) shows that inequality has declined but poor women in poor states still have a long way to go to catch up with even the poor in rich states. By 2016, 10 years after the implementation of the NRHM, the utilisation of maternal healthcare services by poor women in well-performing states was higher than the utilisation of similar services by rich women in poorly performing states.
