Ecommerce platforms to play a role in measuring the Consumer Price Index
CPI is a key indicator of the Reserve Bank of India, when deciding the monetary policy. The ministry wants more clarity on the CPI basket by keeping track of the price movements in the online market. The decision by the Govt. has come at a time when there is a growing demand in online shopping including groceries, clothing and footwear which the ministry feels is not getting captured.
An official remarked that, “Online shopping is not reflecting in our CPI basket now and since price movements may be different for different items as compared to the regular shopping, we may include some of them as we find there is a scope for improving the basket."
India’s online retailing market as projected by Goldman Sachs will expand from $23 billion in 2016 to $69 billion in 2020.
The ministry has identified some of the online retailers to understand the proper price movements adhering to the discounts offered. However, this is still at a nascent level as the Govt needs to find a way between the two base revisions of CPI.
To make the price consistent with international practice, the Central statistics office has revised the CPI base year from 2010 to 2012. Under this method, the data of the price is selected from specific towns by National Sample Survey Organization(NSSO) and from selected villages by the department of post.
India’s retail inflation has been relieved on a larger scale. In February it was 5.18% compared to 5.69% in January and 5.37% a year ago. However, the statistics office is increasingly optimistic that RBI will cut the interest rates. The next monetary policy is scheduled to be announced on April 5.
to success.