WPI and CPI

    Wholesale Price Index                                                       Consumer Price Index 
1) WPI is the price of ' representative basket'                         1) CPI measures changes in a price-level of
of wholesale goods.                                                                  consumer goods and services purchased by
                                                                                               a household over a period.

2) WPI focuses on price of goods traded between                  2) CPI represents changes overtime in prices
 corporations.                                                                             paid by urban consumers for market basket
                                                                                                of consumer goods and services.

3)The purpose of WPI is to monitor price movements            3) CPI is used to index real valve of wages,
   that reflect supply and demand in industry, manufacturing        salaries and pensions for regulating prices
  and construction.                                                                    and for deflating monetary magnitudes to
                                                                                                 show changes in real values.

4)WPI is calculated based on Wholesale prices of                 4) CPI is computed for different categories and
few important commodities.                                                      sub-categories of commodities into
                                                                                               sub-index later combined.

5)WPI {esp. in India} is released every week.                     5) CPI is released every monthly or quarterly.

*WPI base year as been changed in India from 1993-94 to 2004-05 and items calculating it increased from 435 to 676 resp.