India to tap Amazon, Flipkart data for inflation revamp

India will start sourcing price data directly from e-commerce giants including Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart to overhaul its benchmark inflation gauge, aiming to capture shifting consumption habits and address concerns that current data is outdated, the head of the statistics ministry said.

- Reuters

The move could make India's retail inflation data more robust by accounting for prices on online platforms as their share in household spending rises. The shift mirrors a global trend, with countries from the US to South Korea integrating scanner and online prices into inflation measures.

India had about 270 million online shoppers in 2024, a figure projected to grow 22% annually, a private study showed.