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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION No.3517
TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.03.2026
REVISION OF CPI METHODOLOGY
3517. SHRI MALLIKARJUN KHARGE:
Will the Minister of STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION be pleased to
state:
(a) whether it is a fact that Government proposes to use price data directly from e-commerce
platforms for revamping the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and related inflation measures;
(b) if so, the details thereof, including the scope of coverage, cities involved, data-collection
timeline and the anticipated changes in weightages for consumption basket;
(c) whether Government plans to discontinue or revise the base years of the existing CPI for
Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL) and CPI for Rural Labourers (CPI-RL);
(d) if so, the details thereof, including the proposed base year and methodology: and
(e) if not, the reasons therefor?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS
AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION; MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT
CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE
MINISTRY OF CULTURE (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)
(a): The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has strengthened the
measurement framework of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) through a comprehensive base
revision from 2012=100 to 2024=100, using the latest Household Consumption Expenditure
Survey (HCES) 2023–24 to update the CPI item basket and weights. The key enhancements in
base revision exercise include expansion in coverage, methodological refinements, adoption of
international classification system and inclusion of administrative and e-commerce data in CPI to
make CPI more robust and representative. Keeping in view the adequate representativeness and
feasibility of data collection, the sample markets in both rural and urban areas are increased from
2295 to 2860 in CPI 2024 series. As capturing the price trends on the e-commerce platforms has
become important because of its growing use by the Indian households, 12 online markets are also
added across 12 biggest towns of the country, having more than 25 lakh population as per census
2011 to capture price variations of the items on the e-commerce/online platforms
(b): The prices of items are collected through online/e- commerce platforms on weekly basis. All
items of CPI baskets are mapped with the corresponding most popular e-commerce platform forprice collection by the respective regional offices of Field Operations Division (FOD) of MoSPI.
Keeping in view the volatility of prices on e-commerce platforms, prices are collected in all four
weeks on identified days and time slot. A monthly average price using these weekly transaction
price observations are used in CPI compilation.
(c) to (e): The Consumer Price Index Numbers for Agricultural Labourers and Rural Labourers
(CPI-AL & RL) is released by the Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour & Employment. The current
series with base year 2019=100 was released in June 2025. It incorporates several methodological
improvements to enhance robustness and coverage. The series covers 34 States/U'T's with price
collection from 787 sample villages and an item basket of around 150-200 items. It uses revised
weighting diagrams reflecting updated consumption patterns, adopts the Geometric Mean (GM)
to moderate price volatility and follows the Classification of Individual Consumption According
to Purpose (COICOP)-2018 classification.
Further, the Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment, has constituted an Expert Group
under the chairmanship of Shri A.K. Sadhu (Former DG (NSS), MOSPI) on 02.12.2024 to review
the base year revision of CPI-AL/RI, to a more recent year.
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