Telangana gets togather Consumer Price Index data as sub-state level

Hyderabad: Since the present Consumer Price Index does not reflect the true picture as the data is collected on the principle of fixed basket theory, the TS government has decided to collect the data at sub-state level.

The Central government has approved the proposals of the state government for compilation of sub-state CPI with base year 2017. TS has become the first state in India to prepare district-wise weighing diagram for compilation of district-wise CPI, rural and urban combined.

Based on CPI, the Central government regulates Dearness Allowance of all workers and employees of both private and public sectors as well as state and Central government employees. The fixing and revision of minimum wages is also decided on the basis of CPI.

The index calculated does not reflect the true behaviour of prices. To overcome this problem, the Central Statistics Office of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation started compiling new series of CPI for entire urban and rural population which would reflect the changes in price levels of various goods and services consumed by the urban and rural population. These new indices are compiled at state and all India levels including union territories with base 2011-12.

At present, the compiling index is based on six centres which do not reflect price trends of the entire state. Similarly, retail prices collected from 40 centres are also not sufficient to effectively monitor prices in view of reorganisation of districts in the state.

For urban CPI, 310 towns were selected at all India level, of which five are in TS. For rural CPI, a total of 1183 villages have been selected at all-India level, of which 20 are in TS.