Retail Inflation

Retail inflation for industrial workers remained flat at 6.16 per cent in February compared to that of January this year. "Year-on-year inflation for the month stood at 6.16 per cent compared to 6.16 per cent for the previous month (January, 2023) also and 5.04 per cent during the corresponding month (February 2022) a year before," a labour bureau statement said. It stated that food inflation stood at 6.13 per cent against 5.69 per cent of the previous month and 5.09 per cent during the corresponding month a year ago. The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour & Employment, has been compiling Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) every month on the basis of retail prices collected from 317 markets spread over 88 industrially important centres in the country. The index is compiled for 88 centres and all-India and is released on the last working day of succeeding month. The all-India CPI-IW for February 2023 decreased by 0.1 point and stood at ...

Retail inflation for agricultural and rural workers increased to 6.94 per cent and 6.87 per cent, respectively, in February 2023, due to increases in prices of medicines, doctor's fees, and bus fares, among others, an official statement said. Point to point rate of inflation based on the CPI-AL (consumer price index for agricultural labourers) and CPI-RL (rural labourers) were at 5.59 per cent and 5.94 per cent, respectively in January 2023, the Ministry of Labour and Employment said. Inflation based on CPI-AL and CPI-RL were 6.85 per cent and 6.88 per cent in January 2023. The all-India CPI-AL and CPI-RL increased by 1 point each to stand at 1,171 and 1,182, respectively. The maximum upward pressure on general index of AL and RL came from miscellaneous group to the extent of 0.93 and 0.98 points respectively mainly due to increase in prices of medicine, doctor's fee, barber charges, bus fare, washing shop, cinema ticket, etc," it said. The maximum increase in the CPI numbers for

WPI inflation for February eased to 3.85 per cent in February, the lowest in more than two years

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Retail inflation: his is lower than 6.52 per cent in January but still above the Reserve Bank of India's upper tolerance limit of 6 per cent

Retail inflation for farm and rural workers rose to 6.85 per cent and 6.88 per cent, respectively, in January, mainly due to higher prices of certain food items. The inflation readings for farm and rural workers stood at 6.38 per cent and 6.60 per cent, respectively, in December 2022. In January last year, the inflation numbers for farm and rural workers was at 5.49 per cent and 5.74 per cent, respectively. "Point to point rate of inflation based on the CPI-AL (Consumer Price Index Agricultural Labourers) and CPI-RL (Rural Labourers) stood at 6.85 per cent & 6.88 per cent in January 2023 compared to 6.38 per cent & 6.60 per cent, respectively in December 2022 and 5.49 per cent," the labour ministry said in a statement on Monday. Food inflation rose to 6.61 per cent and 6.47 per cent, respectively, last month from 5.89 per cent and 5.76 per cent, respectively, in December 2022. For farm and rural workers, the food inflation stood at 4.15 per cent and 4.33 per cent, ...

Globally, too, sticky inflation seems to be a cause for concern. Last week, two Federal Reserve (US Fed) officials suggested that the US central bank may need to keep interest rates elevated ahead

In a recent report the RBI said that the retreat of inflation is expected to be stubborn and beset by supply shocks in the upcoming year

A number of economists had pointed out that January's retail inflation data may have been overestimated by 23 basis points owing to a variation in the price index for cereals

Following the RBI MPC's repo rate hike earlier this month, many banks like Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, and Punjab National Bank have also hiked their key lending rates

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Core inflation, that excludes food and fuel prices, remained sticky above the 6% mark

In December, the CPI-based inflation was 5.72% with core inflation at 6.10%

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and fuel prices, was still running at 6.10% in December, which makes it difficult for the RBI to look away and to keep the tightening cycle going

RBI MPC: Shaktikanta Das said that the repo rate hike of 25 bps is considered appropriate at this juncture but the monetary policy will remain agile to inflation

RBI monetary policy: In December, Das had said that despite consecutive rate hikes, core inflation had continued to remain 'sticky'

Retail inflation for farm and rural workers sequentially eased to 6.38 per cent and 6.6 per cent, respectively, in December 2022, mainly due to lower prices of certain food items. "Point-to-point rate of inflation based on the CPI-AL (consumer price index for agricultural workers) and CPI-RL (rural workers) stood at 6.38 per cent & 6.60 per cent in December 2022 compared to 6.87 per cent & 6.99 per cent, respectively, in November 2022, and 4.78 per cent and 5.03 per cent, respectively, during the corresponding month (December 2021) of the previous year," a labour ministry statement said. Similarly, it stated that food inflation stood at 5.89 per cent and 5.76 per cent in December 2022 compared to 6.19 per cent and 6.05 per cent, respectively, in November 2022. It was 2.99 per cent and 3.17 per cent, respectively, during the corresponding month of the previous year. The all-India Consumer Price Index Number for Agricultural Labourers for December 2022 remained stationary at ...

In November, CPI, also called retail inflation, was at eleven-month low of 5.88 per cent

The Jan. 4-9 poll of 45 economists put consumer price inflation at 5.90% in December from a year earlier, little changed from an eleven-month low of 5.88% in November

Core inflation, calculated after stripping out volatile food and energy prices, has stayed above 6% for 14 months in a row, while retail inflation cooled to 5.88% in November