Price Hike Increases Cpi

The hike in prices of administered items has started reflecting in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rates. The index for agricultural labourers (CPI-AL) went up to 4.07 per cent in April from a level of 3.38 per cent in March 2000. The index for rural labourers rose to 4.05 per cent in April 2000 from a 3.72 per cent level in the previous month.

The inflation level based on the Wholesale Price Index has also shot up sharply to 6.31 per cent for the week ending May 06 from a figure of 2.96 per cent for the week ending March 04. The sharp rise in the index has been mainly on account of increases in prices of administered items.

The All India Consumer Price Index for Agricultural and rural labourers (Base 1986-87=100) registered an increase of one point over the previous months index. The index for Agricultural labourers stood at 307 while the index for rural labourers stood at 308 in April 2000.

The comparative inflation rates in April 1999 were 8.06 for Agricultural labourers and 7.64 for rural labourers.

The index for AL went up by 1 to 9 points in 14 states while it declined in 3 states.

Karela experienced the sharpest increase in the index with a rise of 9 points in the index for AL while Karela and Jammu & Kashmir experienced an 8 point increase in the index for RL.