About CPI

• It is an index which measures the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services such as transportation, food and medical care.
• It is calculated by measuring price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and services and averaging them.
• It is released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation.
• The base year used to calculate CPI in India is 2011-2012.
• Under the flexible inflation targeting (FIT) framework, RBI aims to contain CPI based inflation within 4 percent with a band of (+/-) 2 percent.

Why in News?

• According to the latest official data, the Consumer Price Index quickened to 6.09% in June, mainly on account of higher prices of food items.
• Retail inflation measure by CPI was 3.18% in June 2019.