Due to rising food costs, India’s October retail inflation rate accelerates to 6.21% annually:
With a medium-term objective of 4%, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is required to maintain inflation between 2% and 6%.
New Delhi (TAT): According to official statistics issued on Tuesday, food prices continued to stay persistently high, causing India’s retail inflation in October to accelerate to 6.21% year-over-year and break the central bank’s goal range for the first time in more than a year.
According to a Reuters survey of 45 economists, the annual retail inflation rate above the 5.81% prediction. Inflation reached a nine-month high of 5.49% in September. With a medium-term objective of 4%, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is required to maintain inflation between 2% and 6%.
Food goods, which make up over half of the consumption basket, saw an increase in annual inflation from 9.24% to 10.87% one month earlier.
After the government improved supply and the RBI’s monetary policy council raised rates, retail inflation in India, which had peaked at 7.79% in April 2022, decreased.
However, this year’s Christmas season sales have been impacted by lower-income consumers’ diminished purchasing power due to increased food prices.
Prices for vegetables increased 36% in September and 42.18% in October compared to the same month last year. Cereal inflation was 6.94%, down from 6.84% in September, while pulse inflation was 7.43%, down from 9.89% in September. Due mostly to rising edible oil costs, the oil and fats inflation rate was 9.51% as opposed to 2.47% in the previous month.
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