India’s retail inflation has been above RBI’s upper tolerance limit of 6% for eight consecutive months
New Delhi, NFAPost: India’s retail inflation inched up to 7% in August from 6.71% in July mainly due to higher food prices, government data showed.
The consumer price index-based inflation is above the Reserve Bank’s comfort level of 6% for the eighth month in a row.
According to the data, inflation in food basket was 7.62% in August, up from 6.69% in July and 3.11% in August 2021.
Meanwhile, India’s industrial production rose 2.4% in July, according to the official data released on Monday. The IIP had grown 11.5% in July 2021.
As per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the manufacturing sector’s output grew 3.2% in July 2022.
The mining output contracted 3.3% while power generation increased 2.3% during the same period.
In April 2020, industrial production had contracted 57.3% due to a decline in economic activities in the wake of the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus infections.
Food inflation, which accounts for nearly half the CPI basket, soared as prices of essential crops like wheat, rice and pulses were driven higher by a record heatwave, squeezing household budgets.
While high inflation is a global phenomenon, it is felt acutely in a country like India where millions live in abject poverty.
Agencies
