PTI New Delhi, March 12
Retail inflation moved up for the fifth consecutive month to 10.91 per cent in February — remaining in double-digit for the third month in a row — on account of higher prices of vegetables, edible oils, cereals and protein-based items. It was 10.79 per cent in January. The inflation had crossed double-digit mark in December to 10.56 per cent from 9.9 per cent in November.
According to official data released today, vegetables basket recorded the highest inflation of 21.29 per cent among all the constituents that form the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Cereals basket recorded 17.04 per cent inflation. Egg, meat and fish became costlier by 15.72 per cent. Oils and fats were costlier by 14.56 per cent. Besides, pulses became dearer by 12.39 per cent and sugar turned more expensive by 12.10 per cent on an annual basis. Clothing and footwear witnessed 10.87 per cent increase in prices.
In urban areas, retail inflation rose to 10.84 per cent in February from 10.73 per cent in the previous month. CPI for rural population increased to 11.01 per cent (10.88 per cent). Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation is expected to be released on Thursday. WPI figures for January stood at 6.62 per cent, much higher than the RBI’s comfort level of 5-6 per cent. The Reserve Bank of India is scheduled to announce its mid-quarter review of monetary policy next week.
It is widely expected that the central bank will further ease the policy to boost the economic growth which touched a decade low of 4.5 per cent in the third quarter of the current fiscal.
In its monetary policy last month, RBI had slashed the key interest rates by 0.25 per cent and released Rs 18,000-crore additional liquidity into the system to perk up growth through reduced cost of borrowing.
The RBI has forecast the March-end WPI inflation to be 6.8 per cent. Meanwhile, industrial output growth rate grew 2.4 per cent in January compared with 1 per cent in the same month last year. (Source: The Hindu Businessline)