Baskets and averages have no meaning when you have extreme economic variations tough job M. Mohammed Ibrahim in Pondy Bazaar, T. Nagar. As the clamour over rising prices grows, some senior economists say that the way that the government calculates the consumer price index and the food basket needs to change. For most people, a food basket is the woven container you carry along when you go grocery shopping. With the recent focus on inflation, however, it is taking on a new meaning. Clubbed together with other "baskets' for pan, supari, tobacco and intoxicants, fuel and light, housing, clothing, bedding and footwear, and other miscellaneous expenses, the food basket is also a macro-economic indicator that helps determine many things, from your salary to the RBI's fiscal policy