Economic Indicators

India’s October retail inflation quickens to 6.21% y/y

2024.11.12 06:40

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India’s retail inflation in October accelerated to 6.21% year-on-year, breaching the central bank’s target range for the first time in over a year, as food prices remained stubbornly high, government data released on Tuesday showed.

The annual retail inflation was higher than the estimate of 5.81% in a Reuters poll of 45 economists. In September, inflation stood at 5.49%, which was a nine-month high.

The Reserve Bank of India (NS:) (RBI) is mandated to keep inflation in a range of 2%-6%, with a medium term target of 4%.

Annual inflation for food items, which account for nearly half of the consumption basket, rose to 10.87% from 9.24% a month ago.

India’s retail inflation, which peaked at 7.79% in April 2022, eased after the RBI’s monetary policy committee raised rates and the government took measures to improve supplies.

However, rising food prices have reduced the purchasing power of lower-income households, affecting festive season sales this year.

Vegetable prices rose 42.18% in October from a year earlier after rising 36% in September.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A customer walk inside a clothes store at a shopping mall in Kolkata, India, June 20, 2018. Picture taken June 20, 2018.  REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri/File Photo

The inflation rate for cereals was 6.94% compared to 6.84% in September, while that for pulses was 7.43% against 9.89% a month earlier.

The inflation rate for oil and fats was 9.51% compared to 2.47% in the previous month, mostly due to an increase in edible oil prices.



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