Labour Minister released new series of CPI for industrial workers
Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar released the new series of Consumer Price Index for industrial workers (CPI-IW) on October 22, 2020. It was launched with 2016 as Base Year. Earlier the base year for the CPI-IW was 2001.
About New CPI-IW
- The new series has been launched to reflect the change in consumption pattern.
- The new indicators gives more weightage to health, education, recreation and other miscellaneous expenditures.
- It has reduced the weight of food and beverages from 46.2% to 39%.
- The number of items in new basket has increased from 392 to 463.
- It has no impact on the dearness allowance (DA).
- The series has been revised earlier as:
- 1944 to 1949;
- 1949 to 1960;
- 1960 to 1982 and
- 1982 to 2001.
What is Consumer Price Index (CPI) ?
CPI measures the changes in the price level of a basket of consumer goods and services that are bought by households. It is a numerical estimation which is calculated using the rates of a sample objects. The prices of the sample objects are collected periodically. It collects the changes in price level at the consumer level. At the producer level, changes in prices are calculated by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI). The CPI is of following types:
- CPI for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW)– It measures the change in the price of a fixed basket of goods and services being utilised by the Industrial Workers. The data is compiled by the Labour Bureau.
- CPI for Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL)- The data for this indicator is compiled by Labour Bureau. It revises the minimum wages for agricultural labour in different States.
- CPI for Rural Labourer (CPI-RL)- It is compiled by the Labour Bureau.
- CPI ( Urban Non-Manual Employees) (CPI-UNME)- The data for this indicator is compiled by Central Statistics Office (CSO) which has now been named as National Statistical Office (NSO).