Retail inflation for industrial workers eases to 3.87pc in April

New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) Retail inflation for industrial workers eased to 3.87 per cent in April compared to 4.2 per cent in March this year, according to official data released on Friday.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment released the Consumer Price Index-Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) numbers for February, March and April on Friday.

"Year-on-year inflation for the month of March 2024 stood at 4.20% as compared to 5.79 % in March 2023," a labour ministry statement said.

According to the statement, year-on-year inflation for the month of April 2024 stood at 3.87 per cent as compared to 5.09 per cent in April 2023. Year-on-year inflation for the month of February 2024 stood at 4.90 per cent as compared to 6.16 per cent in February, 2023.

The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour & Employment, has been compiling Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers every month on the basis of retail prices collected from 317 markets spread over 88 industrially important centres in the country.

The All-India CPI-IW for February increased by 0.3 point to 139.2 points. The index for March decreased by 0.3 point and stood at 138.9 points.

The All-India CPI-IW for April 2024 increased by 0.5 point and stood at 139.4 (one hundred thirty nine point four).

The CPI-IW is used for fixing dearness allowance employees and dearness relief of pensioners by the government.

In another statement, the ministry also released the All-India Consumer Price Index Numbers For Agricultural And Rural Labourers for March and April.

"The year on year inflation rates for CPI-AL and CPI-RL in March 2024 were recorded at 7.15% and 7.08%, respectively. In April 2024, the year on year inflation rates for CPI-AL and CPI-RL were registered at 7.03% and 6.96%, respectively," it said.

In March 2024, both the CPI-AL and CPI-RL increased by 1 point, reaching 1259 and 1270, respectively. In April 2024, the CPI-AL rose by 4 points to 1263, while the CPI-RL increased by 5 points to 1275 points, it stated.

The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour & Employment, has been compiling All-India Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL) and Rural Labourers (CPI-RL) every month on the basis of retail prices collected from 600 villages spread over 20 States.

The indices for the months of March, 2024 and April, 2024 are being released in this press release, it said.