Q. Which of the following brings out the ‘Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers?

  • The Reserve Bank of India
  • The Department of Economic Affairs
  • The Labour Bureau
  • The Department of Personnel and Training

Answer: (c) The Labour Bureau

Consumer Price Index
  • Retail inflation, also known as Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation, tracks the change in retail prices of goods and services which households purchase for their daily consumption.
    • It measures price changes from the perspective of a retail buyer. 
  • CPI is calculated for a fixed basket of goods and services that may or may not be altered by the government from time to time.
  • The change in the price index over a period of time is referred to as CPI-based inflation, or retail inflation.
  • It is released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
  • The CPI calculates the difference in the price of commodities and services such as food, 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.
  • The CPI uses a base year set at 2011-2012.
  • The CPI is published on a monthly basis.
  • At present, India has five consumer price indexes (CPIs), three of which are working-class specific. These are:
    • CPI for Industrial Workers (IW).
    • CPI for Agricultural Labourer (AL).
    • CPI for Rural Labourer (RL).
      • These three indexes are compiled by the Labour Bureau in the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
      • CPIs AL and RL are used to fix minimum wages of agricultural labourers and rural unskilled employees.
      • The Labour Bureau is also expected to bring out the new series of the CPI- AL/RL, which currently has the base year of 1986-87 by August 2021.
  • The other two are CPI-Urban and CPI Rural.
    • These two indexes are compiled by the National Statistical Office (NSO) in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
    • The combined rise in retail prices is captured by CPI Combined.
  • A committee set up by the National Statistical Commission (NSC) in 2005 under the recommendation of Dr C Rangarajan Commission, has suggested that CPI-Rural and CPI-Urban could be a substitute for CPI-AL/RL and CPI-IW, respectively.
CPI for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW)
  • It attempts to quantify changes in the pricing of a fixed basket of products and services used by Industrial Workers over time.
  • A typical working-class family from any of these seven economic sectors, ranging from industries, mines, plantations, motor transport, port, railways, and energy generation and distribution, would be the target demographic.
  • The Labour Bureau compiles this list.
  • This functions under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
CPI for Agricultural Laborers (CPI-AL)
  • The Labor Bureau compiles this data to help revise minimum wages for agricultural labor in different States.
CPI for Rural Labourer (CPI-RL)
  • The Labour Bureau compiles this list.
  • This functions under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
CPI (Urban Non-Manual Employees) (CPI-UNME)
  • This information is compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which is now known as the National Statistical Office (NSO).
    • The Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation oversees the NSO.