The Labour Bureau has released the CPI-IW for March 2023, showing a slight increase. The report highlights factors contributing to and checking the rise in prices, changes at the centre level, year-on-year inflation, and group-wise CPI-IW for February and March 2023.
1. Introduction
The Labour Bureau is an attached office of the M/o Labour & Employment that compiles the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) every month. The index is compiled for 88 centres and All-India, based on retail prices collected from 317 markets spread over 88 industrially important centres in India.
2. CPI-IW for March 2023
The CPI-IW for the month of March 2023 increased by 0.6 points and stood at 133.3, showing an increase of 0.45% compared to the previous month. This increase was less than the 0.80% increase recorded between corresponding months a year ago. The maximum upward pressure in the current index came from the Fuel & Light group, which contributed 0.25 percentage points to the total change.
3. Factors Contributing to Rise in CPI-IW
Several items were responsible for the rise in CPI-IW, including Cooking Gas/LPG, Firewood and Chips, Hospital/Nursing Home Charges, Medicine Allopathic, Motor Cycle/Scooter Mopad, Toilet Soap, Tooth Paste, Arhar Dal, Cow Milk, Dairy Milk, Fish Fresh, Pure Ghee, Apple, Banana, Cauliflower, Brinjal, Cabbage, Bitter Guard, French bean, Lemon, Peas, and Cumin Seed/Jira, Cooked Meal.
4. Factors Checking the Rise in CPI-IW
However, several items helped check the rise in the index, including Wheat Atta, Rice, Potato, Onion, Drum Stick, Lady Finger, Tomato, Grapes, Soyabean Oil, Sunflower Oil, Mustard Oil, Cotton Seed Oil, Poultry Chicken, and Egg-Hen.
5. Changes at the Centre Level
At the centre level, Ahmedabad recorded the highest increase of 3.3 points, followed by Jamshedpur and Gurugram with 3.2 and 3.1 points respectively. Among others, three centres recorded an increase between 2 to 2.9 points, 23 centres between 1 to 1.9 points, and 43 centres between 0.1 to 0.9 points. Salem recorded the maximum decrease of 1.4 points followed by Tirunelveli and Tripura with 1.1 and 1 point respectively. Among others, 9 centres recorded a decrease between 0.1 to 0.9 points, and the index remained stationary for four centres.
6. Year-on-Year Inflation and Food Inflation
The year-on-year inflation for the month stood at 5.79%, which was less than the previous month’s 6.16% and more than the corresponding month a year before’s 5.35%. Similarly, the food inflation stood at 5.02% against 6.13% of the previous month and 6.27% during the corresponding month a year ago.
7. All-India Group-wise CPI-IW for February and March 2023
The CPI-IW for Food & Beverages, Pan, Supari, Tobacco & Intoxicants, Clothing & Footwear, Housing, Fuel & Light, and Miscellaneous groups increased by 0.2 points, 1.6 points, 0.3 points, 0 points, 4.4 points, and 0.7 points respectively between February and March 2023. The General Index increased from 132.7 in February to 133.3 in March.
| Sr. No. | Groups | February, 2023 | March, 2023 |
| I | Food & Beverages | 131.5 | 131.7 |
| II | Pan, Supari, Tobacco & Intoxicants | 152.2 | 153.8 |
| III | Clothing & Footwear | 133.0 | 133.3 |
| IV | Housing | 123.4 | 123.4 |
| V | Fuel & Light | 177.8 | 182.2 |
| VI | Miscellaneous | 130.4 | 131.1 |
| General Index | 132.7 | 133.3 |
8. Next Release of CPI-IW
The next issue of CPI-IW for the month of April 2023 will be released on Wednesday
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Source : PIB & www.labourbureau.gov.in.
