India’s consumer price inflation at a 5-month high of 7.41% in September
18 Oct 2022
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Consumer price inflation in the country, based on the consumer price index, shot up further to 5-month high of 7.41 per cent in September 2022 from 7.00 per cent reported in August, as supply strains eased with the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions.
Prices of vegetables rose 18.05 per cent on year in September while prices of spices saw a rise of 16.88 per cent. Cereals and products gained 11.53 per cent and milk and products rose 7.13 per cent while egg prices slipped (-) 1.79 per cent but fruits grew 5.68 per cent.
Apart from food and beverages, the fuel and light segment rose 10.39 per cent, clothing and footwear spiked 10.17 per cent and the housing segment gained 4.57 per cent.
This is the ninth consecutive time that the CPI has been ruling above the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper margin of 6 per cent. The government has mandated the central bank to maintain retail inflation at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side for a five-year period ending March 2026.
Data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed that consumer price inflation remained volatile for most of the current financial year.
Consumer price inflation for rural areas stood at 7.56 per cent in September 2022 against 7.15 per cent in August, while the inflation rate for urban consumers shot up to 7.77 per cent in September 2022, from 6.72 per cent in August.
Food price inflation rate rose to 8.60 per cent in September 2022 from 7.62 per cent in August.
Food price inflation for rural areas spiked to 8.53 per cent in September 2022 from 7.60 per cent in August, while food price inflation rate for urban consumers shot up to 8.65 per cent in September 2022 from 7.55 per cent in August.
Besides food prices, the rising trajectory of global crude prices and a broad-based surge in international commodity prices and logistics costs is having an impact on core prices, although weak demand conditions may temper the pass-through to consumer inflation to some extent.
