Why in News ?
India CPI Retail Inflation August 2020 growth across the country drops to 6.69 per cent in the month of August. The data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
What is Consumer Price Index (CPI) ?
- A measure for weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services such as transportation, food, and medical care.
- It is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them.
- They are used for assessing the cost of living.
- Four consumer price index numbers, which are calculated and these are as follows
- CPI for Industrial Workers (IW)
- CPI for Agricultural Labourers (AL)
- CPI for Rural Labourers (RL)
- CPI for Urban Non-Manual Employees (UNME).
- Currently the base year for India’s CPI is 2012.
What is Retail Inflation ?
- The retail inflation is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
- In short retail inflation means the increase in prices of certain products or commodities compared to a base price.
- Retail inflation is linked to Consumer Price Index(CPI) which is managed by Ministry of Statistics.
What is Wholesale Price Index ?
- The WPI measures the price of a representative basket of wholesale goods. Measures and tracks the changes in the price of goods before they reach consumers.
- The total costs of the goods being considered in one year are then compared with the total costs of goods in the base year.
About the News
- Retail inflation growth dipped to 6.69% in the month of August against 6.73% in July 2020.
- Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation rose to 0.16% in August from a 0.58% contraction in July.
Source : Indian Express
Topic
GS II : Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
Current Affairs Compilation : 15 September 2020