Article Title: Retail inflation eases to 3.34 %, lowest since 2019
16-04-2025
Economy Current Affairs Analysis
Context
• Retail inflation eased to a five-and-a-half-year low of 3.34% in March, from 3.61% in the previous month, mostly due to lower food prices, according to data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
What is the Wholesale Price Index?
• It measures the changes in the prices of goods sold and traded in bulk by wholesale businesses to other businesses.
• Published by the Office of Economic Adviser, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• The base year of All-India WPI has been revised from 2004-05 to 2011-12 in 2017.
What is the Consumer Price Index?
• It measures price changes from the perspective of a retail buyer. It is released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
• The CPI calculates the difference in the price of goods and services such as food, fuel, medical care, education, electronics etc, which Indian consumers buy for use.
• The CPI has several sub-groups including food and beverages, fuel and light, housing and clothing, bedding and footwear.
• Four types of CPI are as follows:
1CPI for Industrial Workers (IW).
2CPI for Agricultural Labourer (AL).
3CPI for Rural Labourer (RL).
4CPI (Rural/Urban/Combined).
• Of these, the first three are compiled by the Labour Bureau in the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Fourth is compiled by the NSO in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
• Base Year for CPI is 2012.
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