The Alkire-Foster (AF) methodology, developed by Sabina Alkire and James Foster at OPHI, University of Oxford, is the internationally accepted framework for constructing multidimensional poverty indices, including the Global MPI of UNDP.

NITI Aayog adopted the AF dual-cutoff approach for India's National MPI, which uses 12 indicators across three dimensions — Health, Education and Standard of Living.

The dual cutoff works at two levels: first, an indicator cutoff to decide whether a household is deprived in each indicator; second, a poverty cutoff (weighted-share threshold of 33%) to decide whether the household is multidimensionally poor.

This design was chosen because it preserves cross-country comparability with the Global MPI while allowing India to add nationally relevant indicators such as Maternal Health, Bank Accounts and Antenatal Care, aligning with SDGs and India's development priorities.

Hence, the answer is it combines global comparability with India's development priorities.