Retail inflation for farm, rural workers eases in Jan

New Delhi: Retail inflation for farm workers and rural labourers eased to 2.17 per cent and 2.35 per cent in January, mainly due to lower prices of certain food items.

The numbers in December 2020 had stood at 3.25 per cent and 3.34 per cent, respectively.

"Point-to-point rate of inflation based on the CPI-AL (Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers) and CPI-RL (Consumer Price Index for Rural Labourers) decreased to 2.17 per cent and 2.35 per cent in January 2021, from 3.25 per cent and 3.34 per cent, respectively, in December 2020," the labour ministry said in a statement.

Inflation based on food index of CPI-AL and CPI-RL stood at 1.02 per cent and 1.22 per cent, respectively, in January 2021.

All-India CPI-AL and CPI-RL for January 2021 decreased 9 points and 8 points to stand at 1,038 and 1,045 points, respectively.

The major contribution towards the fall in general index of agricultural labourers and rural labourers came from food with (-)12.52 points and (-)11.40 points, respectively, mainly due to fall in prices of pulses, onion, potato, cauliflower and brinjal.The fall or rise in index varied from state to state.