Prelims: Current events of national and international importance | Economy
Why in News?
The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) revised the base year of the Consumer Price Index from 2012=100 to 2024=100.
It was incorporating updated consumption weights from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24 and expanding market coverage.
Under the CPI 2024 series, the inflation data is available from January 2026 onwards.
The inflation data of the CPI 2012 series is available up to December 2025.
A direct comparison of inflation under the new series with that of the previous series is not feasible on account of the changes in the item basket, weights, coverage of markets and methodology between the two series.
The new series introduces rural house rent for the first time, significantly improving the coverage of rural housing consumption.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the change in retail prices of a fixed basket of goods and services consumed by households and is India’s headline retail inflation indicator (YoY % change in CPI).
India’s final CPI is made by mixing the rural CPI and urban CPI in proportion to their share in total consumption (weights).
CPI-based inflation is also the primary indicator for the Reserve Bank of India to help guide it in decisions such as interest rates and inflation control.
