AICPIN for the Month of December 2013

Consumer Price Index Numbers for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) December 2013

According to a press release issued by the Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour & Employment the All-India CPI-IW for December, 2013 declined by 4 points and pegged at 239(two hundred and thirty nine). On 1-month percentage change, it decreased by 1.65 per cent between November and December compared with the rise of 0.46 per cent between the same two months a year ago.

The largest downward pressure to the change in current index came from Food group contributing -4.96 percentage points to the total change. At item level, Onion, Ginger, Chillies Green, Brinjal, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Peas, Tomato, Potato and other Vegetable items, Sugar etc. are responsible for the decrease in index. However, this was compensated to some extent by Fish Fresh, Eggs, Hen, Poultry, Milk, Pure Ghee, Garlic, Firewood, ESI Contribution, etc. putting upward pressure on the index.

The year-on-year inflation measured by monthly CPI-IW stood at 9.13 per cent for December, 2013, as compared to 11.47 per cent for the previous month and 11.17 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Similarly, the Food inflation stood at 11.49 per cent against 16.17 per cent of the previous month and 13.53 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year.

At centre level, Giridih recorded the highest decline of 12 points each followed by Ahmedabad, Chhindwara, Varanasi, Munger, Jamalpur, Nagpur and Bhavnagar (10 points each).Jamshedpur (09 points), Rourkela, Ludhiana, Tripura and Angul Talcher (08 points each) Among others, 7 points decrease was registered in 9 centres, 6 points in 8 centres, 5 points in 11 centres, 4 points in 8 centres, 3 points in 7 centres, 2 points in 9 centres and 1 point in 7 centres. On the contrary, Sholapur centre reported an increase of 4 points followed by Puducherry (2 points), Coimbatore and Srinagar centres 1 point each. Rest of the 3 centres’ indices remained stationary.

The indices of 37 centres are above All-India Index and other 38 centres’ indices are below national average. The index of Varanasi and Vijaywada centre remained at par with all-India index.

The next index of CPI-IW for the month of January, 2014 will be released on Friday, 28 February, 2014. The same will also be available on the office website www.labourbureau.gov.in.