Revised CPI series may track more markets, ecom data in major cities

Currently, monthly price data is collected from 1181 villages and 1114 markets in 310 selected towns by the field operations division of the NSO

To make the revised consumer price index (CPI) series more robust and representative of price changes, the number of physical markets from where price data is collected will be increased to 2,900 from nearly 2,300 now, official sources told Business Standard.   

Currently, the National Statistical Office’s (NSO’s) field operations division gathers monthly price data from 1,181 villages and 1,114 markets across 310 selected towns. Under the revised methodology, price data will also be collected from online marketplaces in 12 of the country’s most populous cities, each having a population of more than 2.5 million.

 

The new series is slated to