India, Feb. 12 -- Inflation is one of the most important economic indicators in modern economies. It measures changes in the cost of living and scarcity, thereby serving an extremely critical political economy function. Any inflation number is only as good as the database from which it is derived. India's Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, until December 2025, was based on the Consumption Expenditure Survey (CES) conducted in 2011-12, which was clearly outdated, especially in an economy as dynamic and evolving as India.

Ideally, the new series should have been released much earlier. But, the government's decision to junk the findings of the 2017-18 CES and the delay in commissioning and conducting a new CES due to the pandemic led to a pos...