Resetting the base year for CPI-AL/RL likely to impact minimum wages

After almost four decades, the government is planning to revise the base year for CPI for agri and rural workers, with more weightage likely to be given to items such as health and education

Nearly four decades since its last iteration, the central government is planning to revise the base year of the consumer price index for agricultural labourers/rural labourers (AL/RL) to better capture price increases experienced by these categories of workers.

 

The base year revision is part of a broader effort by the government to introduce new series for several key macroeconomic indicators, including the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). 

Currently, the base years for CPI and CPI-IW (industrial workers) are 2012 and 2016 respectively, while the base year for CPI-AL/RL is at