Consumer Price Index (CPI) October 2022: The retail inflation which is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 6.77 per cent in October, government data revealed.
indianexpress.com
India Consumer Price Index (CPI) October 2022: India’s retail inflation, which is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), eased to a three-month low of
6.77 per cent in the month of October, data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed Monday.
The retail inflation for the month of September was
7.41 per cent, the data showed.
Despite easing to a three-month low, the CPI continued to remain above the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper margin of 6 per cent for the 10th consecutive month. 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.
The CPI data is primarily factored in by the RBI while preparing their bi-monthly monetary policy. On its failure to contain the retail inflation below the 6 per cent mandate, the
Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the central bank earlier this month held a
special off-cycle meeting to draft the content of the report to be sent to the government for missing the inflation target.
At its September 28-30 meeting, the MPC had
hiked the repo rate by 50 basis points (bps) to 5.90 per cent. So far in this financial year, the MPC has raised the key interest rate by 190 bps in a bid to tame the raging inflation. However, despite their move, retail inflation continues to remain above the upper tolerance level.
The
Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) or the inflation in the food basket too showed a month-on-month fall during october to
7.01 per cent, from 8.60 per cent in September, the
data revealed.
Egg prices dipped (-)0.18 per cent on-year in October while oils and fats declined 2.15 per cent. There was no change in sugar and confectionery segment.
On the other hand, vegetables rose 7.77 per cent on year last month, cereals and products climbed 12.08 per cent and spices saw a rise of 18.02 per cent. Milk and products rose 7.69 per cent and meat and fish prices inched 3.08 per cent while that of fruits rose 5.20 per cent.
Apart from food and beverages, the fuel and light segment rose 9.93 per cent, clothing and footwear gained 10.16 per cent and the housing segment inched up 4.58 per cent
In a separate economic data released earlier in the day by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the wholesale price-based inflation or the
WPI dropped to a 19-month low of
8.39 per cent in October. The WPI has dropped below the double-digit mark for the first time since March 2021.