India on Thursday introduced a new series of its Consumer Price Index (CPI), the benchmark that tracks retail inflation.
The change will improve the quality of data used in formulating monetary and fiscal policies, according to Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran.
The new index will reflect changes in spending patterns since the last overhaul done more than a decade ago.
CPI under the new series came in at 2.75 per cent for January, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
It updates the base year to 2024 from 2012 while coverage has widened to 358 items from 299 -- including 308 goods and 50 services -- with price data now collected from 1,465 rural and 1,395 urban markets, as well as 12 online marketplaces.
The new CPI series expands classification from six to 12 groups, adding several standalone categories to provide greater granularity.
The weight of food and beverages has been reduced to 36.75 per cent from 45.86 per cent, potentially lowering headline volatility. Housing, now expanded to include utilities, carries a 17.67 per cent weight.
Paan, tobacco and intoxicants rose to 2.99 per cent, while clothing and footwear fell to 2.38 per cent.
Index values under the new series are available from January 2025, making year-on-year inflation comparable only from January 2026. A linking factor allows back-calculation to 2013. -- PTI
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