To the Editor: I welcome the queries on my research article [1]. I have the following replies:

  1. 1.

    Socioeconomic status was determined by updated Kuppuswamy’s socioeconomic scale [2].

  2. 2.

    WHO charts for 5–18 y-old children are based on statistical reconstruction of 1977 National Centre for Health Statistics data [3]. WHO has stated that it would not be possible to have prescriptive growth standards for children between 5 and 18 y of age because of environmental variables. Hence, it is necessary to have country-specific growth charts. The revised IAP growth charts for 5–18 y old Indian children are based on data collated from different regions of India [4]. We made the assessment of nutritional status using both international and national growth references.

  3. 3.

    The overall prevalence of stunting, thinness, overweight and obesity were observed 21.15 %, 40.32 %, 4.30 % and 0.36 % respectively using WHO reference data [5] while using the IAP growth charts [4] as reference, the overall prevalence of stunting, thinness, overweight and obesity were observed 9.09 %, 12 %, 7.09 % and 0.36 % respectively. Thus, using the country-specific growth charts (IAP growth charts), a lower rate in the overall prevalence of undernutrition (stunting, thinness) and a higher rate in the overall prevalence of overnutrition (overweight) was found.