Image for representation purpose only.
| Photo Credit: V. Raju
India’s retail inflation cooled to 5.72% in December 2022, staying below the central bank’s 6% tolerance threshold for the second month in a row after a ten-month streak above it. Rural inflation, however, remained higher, dipping marginally from 6.09% in November 2022 to 6.05% in December.
While inflation measured by the Consumer Food Price Index dipped from 4.67% in November to 4.19% in December, there was a wide disparity in the price rise for food items faced by rural and urban consumers. Urban food price inflation was just 2.8% in December compared to 5.05% in rural markets.
Vegetable price deflation continued, nearly doubling from 8.1% in November 2022 to 15.08% in December, but inflation in cereals continued to accelerate, rising to 13.8%. Price rise in milk and spices also gathered pace again to move up from 8.16% and 19.5%, respectively, in November, to 8.5% and 20.35%, respectively.
