Retail inflation declined to 6.93% in November on softer food prices, though it remained above the comfort level of the Reserve Bank. Retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 7.61% in October.
According to the CPI data released by the government on Monday, inflation in the food basket was 9.43% in November, down from 11% in the previous month. Prices of vegetables, however, saw an increase of 15.63% in November as compared to the same time last year. In October, prices of vegetables had jumped by 22.51%.
Prices of pulses and products increased 17.91%, oils and fats saw an inflation of 17.86%, spices were up 10.68%. Prices of meat and fish too, increased 16.67%, while prices of eggs saw a whopping 20.26% increase.
In terms of states in the south, Andhra and Telangana saw among the highest rate of inflation, with Andhra Pradesh’s inflation rate coming in at 9.08%, and Telangana’s at 8.99%. Tamil Nadu’s inflation rate was 6.74%, Kerala’s came in slightly lower at 5.49% and Karnataka’s too at 5.61%
The RBI, which mainly factors in retail inflation while arriving at key policy rates, has been mandated by the government to keep inflation at 4% (+, - 2%).
The central bank had maintained status quo in the policy rate earlier this month due to high inflation.
Meanwhile, India's annual rate of inflation based on wholesale prices jumped to 1.55% in November from a rise of 1.48% in October.
"The rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at (1.55%) (provisional) for the month of November 2020 (over November, 2019) as compared to 0.58% during the corresponding month of the previous year," a Ministry of Commerce and Industry statement on WPI said.
On a sub-segment basis, prices of manufactured items remained at elevated levels with a rise of 2.97% from 2.12% reported for September and (-) 0.84% recorded during October 2019.
The expenses on primary articles, which constitute 22.62% of the WPI's total weightage, increased to 2.72%.