The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Thursday released the first set of Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures under the revised base year of 2024, along with insights into monthly changes during 2025.

This allows a direct comparison of month-over-month (MoM) movements in the general CPI for 2025 under both the 2012 series and the new 2024 series, highlighting how the updated consumption basket and weights influence perceived price dynamics.

The new series, based on the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2023-24, incorporates modern consumption patterns, shifts to 12 divisions per COICOP 2018 classification, and adds items like rural housing, streaming services while removing outdated ones such as VCRs and second-hand clothing. It also reduces the weight of food and beverages. The revision, according to MoSPI, aims to make the CPI more representative of current economic realities.

Bridging the Gap

The MoM changes in the CPI during 2025 under the new 2024 base showed relatively modest fluctuations. Starting from January 2025, the index exhibited slight declines or small increases in the early months, followed by more noticeable rises mid-year. February 2025 saw a MoM decline (negative change) while March and April recorded minor positive shifts (around 0.08% and 0.19%). According to the government data, May and June showed gradual increases while July through September displayed steadier upward movements, peaking in some periods. It was flat in September and October and the CPI had smaller MoM changes in November and December.

In contrast, the chart comparing MoM changes under the old 2012 base versus the new 2024 base highlights more pronounced volatility in the 2012 series during the same period. The 2012-base MoM figures included sharper drops, notable negative changes in February and March, and higher spikes in June and July.

Responding to the divergence in monthly trends between the old and new series, MoSPI Secretary Saurabh Garg said it depends on which items’ prices have changed month to month. “It’s not just one item. It’s a variety, because weights have changed for a number of items, the number of markets has increased, the number of items has also changed, and new items are added. But definitely, if one item gets more volatile, there would be some impact,” he said.

The overlapping data for 2025 serves as a bridge between the two series, with linking factors provided to facilitate historical comparisons.

Beyond the Basket

In the new series, the number of goods items increased from 259 to 308 and the number of services items increased from 40 to 50. According to MoSPI, real time price data are collected from selected 1407 urban Markets (including 12 online markets) and 1465 villages covering all States/UTs. The CPI 2024 series adopts the Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP) 2018, replacing the earlier structure comprising six broad groups. This is the latest classification system developed by the United Nations Statistics Division. Under the revised framework, expenditure is classified into 12 divisions at the first level, 43 groups, 92 classes, 162 subclasses, and 358 items at the last level of hierarchy.