November retail inflation slumps to 17-month low
Retail inflation, which is calculated on the consumer price index (CPI), for October this year has been revised slightly up at 3.38% from 3.31% earlier, data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed
Retail inflation plunged to a 17-month low in November at 2.33%, mainly on account of decline in prices of kitchen essentials like vegetables, eggs and pulses.
Retail inflation, which is calculated on the consumer price index (CPI), for October this year has been revised slightly up at 3.38% from 3.31% earlier, data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed Wednesday.In the year-ago period (November 2017), it was at 4.88%.
Retail inflation, a key input for the RBI to decide on its monetary policy, was lower than this in June 2017 when it stood at 1.46%, as per data by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI). The CSO comes under MOSPI.The overall food inflation showed a negative print of 2.61% in November against an uptick of 0.86% in October.
Vegetables prices showed a sharp decline with inflation standing at (-)15.59% in November as against (-) 8.06% in the previous month.For pulses and its products, the rate of deflation slowed a tad at (-) 9.22% from (-) 10.28%. Protein rich eggs inflation came in at (-) 3.92% as against 2.21% in October.
For fuel and light category, the rate of price rise eased to 7.39% during the month from 8.55%.However, meat and fish turned costlier at 4.99% from 3.02%. For fruits, the inflation moderated to 0.21% from 0.35%.