A scene at a vegetable market in Delhi.
| Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
India’s retail inflation stayed under the Reserve Bank of India’s median target of 4% for the second successive month in August, even as it inched up marginally to 3.65% from an upwardly revised 3.6% in July. August’s inflation pace is the second-slowest in five years.
Base effects from last August, when retail prices rose 6.8%, helped keep the inflation pace in check, but food inflation quickened from July’s 13-month low of 5.4% to 5.7% and crossed the 6% mark in rural India.
Overall rural inflation was more elevated than that faced by urban consumers, rising marginally from 4.1% in July to 4.16%, while urban inflation stood at 3.14% in August.
On a month-on-month basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was flat, while the Consumer Food Price Index declined 0.44%. However, the rural food price index declined just 0.25% while urban food prices dropped 0.9% on a sequential basis.
Tomatoes reported the sharpest drop in prices, declining 47.9% year-on-year, and 28.8% on a month-on-month basis. The National Statistical Office said India’s food inflation for August is the second lowest since June, 2023.
Published – September 12, 2024 05:51 pm IST
