Costly vegetables push retail inflation to 4-month high of 5.08%

New Delhi: Retail inflation rose to a four-month high of 5.08 per cent in June, primarily driven by increasing food prices, including vegetables, according to government data released on Friday. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation had been on a declining trend since January before this recent uptick.

The CPI-based retail inflation was 4.8 per cent in May 2024 and 4.87 per cent in June 2023. The previous high was recorded in February at 5.09 per cent. Inflation in the food basket was 9.36 per cent in June, up from 8.69 per cent in May, according to the data of the National Statistical Office (NSO).

The government has tasked the Reserve Bank to ensure that the CPI inflation remains at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side.

The highest inflation was in vegetables at 29.32 per cent, followed by ‘pulses and products’ at 16.07 per cent in June on an annual basis.

‘Cereals and products’ and fruits too were dearer in June over the same month last year.

The retail inflation in rural areas was 5.66 per cent, higher than 4.39 per cent in urban India, showed the NSO data.

According to the NSO data, the highest inflation was in Odisha (7.22 per cent) and lowest in Delhi (2.18 per cent).

NSO collects the price data from selected 1,114 urban markets and 1,181 villages covering all states and UTs on a weekly roster. During June 2024, NSO collected prices from 99.7 pent villages and 98.6 per cent urban markets.

Meanwhile, industrial production grew 5.9 per cent in May this year, mainly due to good show by mining and power sectors.

The factory output measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) witnessed a growth of 5.7 per cent in May 2023.

India’s Index of Industrial Production grew by 5.9 per cent in May 2024, an official statement said.

The data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed that the manufacturing sector’s output slowed to 4.6 per cent in May 2024 against 6.3 per cent in the year-ago month.

In May this year, mining production rose 6.6 per cent, and power output increased 13.7 per cent.

During April-May this fiscal, the IIP grew 5.4 per cent compared to 5.1 per cent in the year-ago period.