Separate e-commerce inflation index likely

The ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) is considering launching a new inflation index, which would track retail prices of items being sold on e-commerce platforms. The new index will not be part of the consumer price index (CPI), but will be released along with the CPI data, once unveiled.

According to official sources, the ministry is in talks with more than 15 e-commerce platforms in the country, including the major ones like Flipkart, Amazon and Meesho to get access to the prices of items being listed on their platforms.