NEWS

India’s retail inflation  accelerated in Nov. to 5.1%

ABOUT RETAIL INFLATION

• Retail Inflation, refers to the rate of inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
• CPI
  • Is an index that tracks the daily consumption of households and the change in the price of the goods and services these households spend on.
  • Also known as the market basket and this basket includes a fixed list of items which include food, clothing, housing, transportation, electronics, education, medical care etc.
  • Done so as to compare and calculate the changes in the prices which in turn gives us an idea of the retail inflation levels in the economy.
  • Computes the inflation or the deflation based on the consumers day to day living expenses.
  • Is a macroeconomic indicator used by the government itself and several government agencies and especially the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) pay very close attention to the retail Inflation as based on the inflation levels or deflation they can take the necessary steps and produce policies to maintain price stability within the economy.
• In India the retail inflation is calculated by the following CPI’s:
  • CPI for Industrial Workers (IW)
  • CPI for Agricultural Labourers (AL)
  • CPI for Rural Labourers (RL)
  • CPI for Urban Non-Manual Employees (UNME)
• The Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation collects date and compiles it from the CPI for Urban Non-Manual Employees (UNME). The CPI for Industrial Workers (IW), Agricultural Labourers (AL) and Rural Labourers (RL) are collected by the Ministry of Labour.