INFLATION RATE FALLS BUT CONSUMER PRICE INDEX FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS RISES

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The rate of inflation based upon the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers witnessed a marginal fall of 0.03 percentage point during May, 2002. It went down from 4.69 % in April 2002 to 4.66 % in May, 2002. In May, 2001 the inflation rate was 2.50%.

The All India Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) for May, 2002 (base 1982-100) went up by 3 points to stand at 472 (four hundred & seventy two) points. The CPI-IW during the corresponding period last year had also increased by three points.

The Fall/Rise in index varied from centre to centre. In 45 centres, the index increased between 1 to 10 points and in 8 centres it remained constant whereas in another 17 centres it recorded an increase of 1 to 8 points when compared to the previous month.

During the month Guntur and Gudur centres experienced the maximum increase of 10 points each. In Guntur the increase is mainly due to rise in prices of Rice, Urd Dal, Chillies, Green Vegetables & Fruits, Clothing Items etc. Similarly, in Gudur centre rise is mainly due to increase in prices of Rice, Arhar Dal, Grounnut Oil, Dry Chillies, Vegetables & Fruits etc. On the other hand Tiruchirapply centre experienced the maximum decrease of 8 points due to fall in prices of Rice, Onions and Tamarind. The index remained stationery in 8 centres viz. Yamunagar, Rajkot, Amritsar, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Nasik, Srinagar and Quilon.

The index in respect of six main centres for May, 2002 stood at the following level: -

1. Ahmedabad 472

2. Bangalore 445

3. Kolkata 528

4. Chennai 508

5. Delhi 545

6. Mumbai 555