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Source: The post is based on the article “Consumer Price Index Numbers for Agricultural and Rural Labourers – October, 2023” published in “PIB” on 21st November 2023
Why in the News?
The All India Consumer Price Index Number for Agricultural Laborers (CPI-AL) and Rural Labourers (CPI-RL) for the month of October, 2023 has been released.
What is the Consumer Price Index (CPI)?
1) Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an index measuring retail inflation in the economy by collecting the change in prices of most common goods and services used by consumers.
2) It is calculated for a fixed list of items including food, housing, apparel, transportation, electronics, medical care, education etc.
3) In 2014, RBI has adopted CPI as the key measure for determining the inflation.
What are the different types of Consumer Price Index(CPI)?
| Index | CPI for Industrial Workers (IW) | CPI for Agricultural Labourer (AL) | CPI for Rural Labourer (RL) | CPI (Rural/Urban/Combined) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Released by | Labour Bureau (Ministry of Labour and Employment) | Labour Bureau | Labour Bureau | National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) |
| Base Year | 2016 | 1986-87 | 1986-87 | 2012 |
| Purpose | Measures the relative changes in retail prices of fixed basket of goods and services consumed by industrial workers over a period of time. | confined to households of the agricultural labourers | covers the households of rural labourers which includes agricultural labourers households also. | – |
| Used for | Utilized for regulation of wages & dearness allowance of workers & employees in the country. | MGNREGA wage rates are fixed according to changes in the CPI-AL. | – | Used by RBI to determine inflation rates and its monetary policy. |
UPSC Syllabus: Economy
