Pushing back on the claims that the reduced weight of food and beverages in the new consumer price index (CPI) series would diminish the headline inflation during food price spikes, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) Secretary Saurabh Garg has said it would not be appropriate to make such an assessment. The primary objective of the CPI base revision is to develop a robust, transparent and representative index that accurately reflects price movement across time as per household consumption behaviour, he said. “It would not be appropriate to make an assessment regarding the impact of the revised weights on inflation volatility,” the secretary said. He stressed that a lower food weight naturally means food price changes contribute less to the headline CPI movements during spikes, but this reflects updated expenditure realities.