Analysts, including government officials, have recommended that the new consumer price index (CPI) basket should capture items that are distributed to households under the public distribution system (PDS).
As per an official release, analysts told the statistics ministry at an event that “zero price is also a price and this fact should not be ignored”.
At an event held on Wednesday, chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said the value of the items distributed under PDS is a significant proportion of household consumption. “The context of the international practices should be examined with a wider body of experts to come to a holistic decision in such an important matter,” he said.
Ramesh Chand, member, NITI Aayog, emphasised that the impact of items distributed for free under the PDS will have on prices of those in the open market needs to be closely examined. Hence, whether free items should be excluded or not from the purview of the CPI will merit further consideration, the release said.