Vendors arrange vegetables on their carts at a wholesale vegetable market in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh November 8, 2009.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
India’s retail inflation hardened to 4.81% in June from 4.31% in May, driven by a spike in food price inflation faced by consumers which rose to 4.5% from less than 3% in the previous month, government data showed on July 12.
Inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 4.31% (revised upward from 4.25%) in May and 7% in June 2022.
The inflation, however, remains within the RBI’s comfort level of below 6%.
The previous high CPI was in March at 5.66%.
Also read: Data | Parsing the inflation story of the past year
The government has tasked the central bank to ensure retail inflation remains at 4% with a margin of 2% on either side. The central bank mainly factors in the CPI to arrive at its bi-monthly monetary policy decision. The next policy review is scheduled early next month.
Inflation for the food basket was at 4.49% in June, higher than 2.96% in May. The food basket accounts for nearly half of the CPI.
Last month, the Reserve Bank kept policy rates unchanged at 6.5% and projected retail inflation for the current fiscal to average at 5.1%, with June quarter inflation pegged at 4.6%.
(With inputs from PTI)
