The retail inflation for industrial workers dipped to 5.1 per cent in May due to lower prices of certain food items and kerosene oil. The retail inflation for industrial workers is measured through Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW). "Inflation based on all items stood at 5.10 per cent for May, 2020 as compared to 5.45 per cent for the previous month (April 2020) and 8.65 per cent during the corresponding month ( May 2019) of the previous year," a labour ministry statement said. Similarly, as per the data, food inflation stood at 5.88 per cent against 6.56 per cent in the previous month and 5.21 per cent in May 2019.
The All-India CPI-IW for May 2020 increased by 1 point and stood at 330. On 1-month percentage change, it increased by 0.30 per cent between April and May, 2020 compared to 0.64 per cent increase between the same months of the previous year.
?The maximum upward pressure in current index came from Food group contributing 0.67 percentage points rise to the total change.
At commodity level, Arhar Dal, Masur Dal, Moong Dal, Urd Dal, Groundnut Oil, Mustard Oil, Fish Fresh, Goat Meat, Poultry (Chicken), Milk, Cabbage, French Bean, Green Coriander Leaves, Potato, Country Liquor, Refined Liquor, Cooking Gas, Petrol, etc. are responsible for the increase in index, the data showed. However, this increase was checked by Rice, Wheat, Garlic, Onion, Bitter Gourd, Coconut, Gourd, Lady Finger, Mango, Parval, Tomato, Torai, Banana, Kerosene Oil, etc, putting downward pressure on the index, it stated. ?At centre level, Warangal, Chhindwara and Ahmedabad recorded the maximum increase of 6 points each. Among others, 4 points increase was observed in 6 centres, 3 points in 11 centres, 2 points in 9 centres and 1 point in 8 centres.
On the contrary, Doom-Dooma Tinsukia recorded the maximum decrease of 10 points followed by Salem (9 points), Munger-Jamalpur (8 points) and Lucknow (7 points). Among others, 5 points decrease was observed in 1 centre, 4 points in another 1 centre, 3 points in 6 centres, 2 points in 9 centres and 1 point in another 9 centres. Rest of 11 centres' indices remained stationary.
?The indices of 33 centres are above All-India Index and 45 centres' indices are below national average.
?The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour & Employment, has been compiling CPI-IW every month on the basis of the retail prices of select items collected from 289 markets spread over 78 industrially important centres in the country. The index is released on the last working day of succeeding month.
Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said ,"The fall in inflation during the month in general and food in particular due to free supply of cereals to households across the country under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) during lockdown had put less burden on the pockets of 130 crore people in the country." Lauding the efforts of the Labour Bureau, he said, "Our labour bureau is doing a great job by bringing out the inflation data during these challenging times under lockdown. This will help policy makers." The hike in dearness allowance and dearness relief for over one crore central government employees and pensioners is worked out on the basis of CPI-IW.
