New Delhi, Jan 21 (NationPress) Year-on-year inflation rates derived from the all-India consumer price index for agricultural labourers (CPI-AL) and rural labourers (CPI-RL) for December 2025 have been calculated at 0.04 per cent and 0.11 per cent, respectively, as reported by the Ministry of Labour & Employment on Wednesday.

Food inflation for both agricultural and rural workers remained in the negative territory, recording (-) 1.8 per cent and (-) 1.73 per cent respectively, attributed to a drop in food prices resulting from improved production.

This decrease in inflation over recent months offers much-needed relief to these vulnerable groups who are typically affected by rising costs. Consequently, it allows them to have more disposable income to purchase a broader variety of goods, thereby enhancing their quality of life.

The Labour Bureau, under the Ministry of Labour & Employment, has modified the base year for the Consumer Price Index Numbers for Agricultural and Rural Labourers to 2019=100 since June of this year. These indices are formulated using data collected from a sample of 787 villages across 34 states and Union Territories.

The newly established CPI – AL & RL series (Base: 2019=100) supersedes the previous 1986-87=100 series.

This revised series has significantly broadened its scope and coverage while incorporating various methodological enhancements to ensure more robust indices.

Price calculations for PDS items are now based on the admissibility concept instead of the previous availability method; the new series encompasses 34 states and Union Territories compared to 20 states in the former series; price data is gathered from 787 sample villages instead of 600; and it covers 150–200 items versus 65–106 in the old series.

In contrast, India’s overall inflation rate based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was projected at 1.33 per cent for December 2025, a slight increase from the 0.71 per cent reported in November.

The overall inflation outlook remains favorable. The RBI’s monetary policy committee (MPC) recently revised its forecast for India’s inflation rate for the financial year 2025-26 to 2 per cent from 2.6 per cent estimated in October, influenced by the significant dip in food prices and the implementation of GST rate cuts.

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra announced a 25 basis points reduction in the repo rate to 5.25 per cent from 5.5 per cent earlier, as inflation has decreased, allowing the monetary policy to focus more on stimulating growth.