Retail Inflation increased by 5.49 % this September
According to the data released by the government, a big increase in retail inflation was shown in the month of September. The retail inflation was risen to 5.49% due to the continuous increase in the prices of food items. The target of 4 percent set by the RBI in the medium term has been crossed by retail inflation.
After the wholesale inflation data, the retail inflation data has also been released. A rise to 5.49 percent on an annual basis in September was experienced by India's retail inflation rate. This increase was attributed to the continuous increase in the prices of food items. The 5-year low of 3.65% recorded last month is being much higher than retail inflation. For the first time since July, it has been crossed by it over the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) medium-term target of 4%.
This is the reason for the increase in retail inflation. The inflation rate of food items, which have half the share in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket, reached 9.24% in September. The retail inflation rate of food items was recorded at 5.66 in the month of August. Earlier, a retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was noted at 3.6 percent in July 2024 and 3.65 percent in August 2024. In both months of July and August, a retail inflation rate was maintained within the Reserve Bank's target of 4 percent. On the other hand, a CPI based retail inflation rate was noted at 6.83 percent in August 2023.
Wholesale inflation was also increased. Due to rising prices of vegetables and other food items, an increase to 1.84 percent in wholesale price inflation was observed in September. In August, an inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) was recorded at 1.31 percent. It had been decreased by 0.07 percent in September last year. According to government data released on Monday, a rise to 11.53 percent in food inflation was reported for September, while it was noted at 3.11 percent in August.
What is the reason behind this?
This was attributed to vegetable inflation, which was reported to have risen by 48.73 percent in September. It was noted to have fallen by 10.01 percent in August. Potato inflation was reported to remain high at 78.13 percent in September and onion inflation at 78.82 percent. A deflation of 4.05 percent was observed in the fuel and power category in September, while a deflation of 0.67 percent was recorded.
