New Delhi: Retail inflation rose to a seven-month high of 6.01 percent in January as food items like vegetables, meat, fish became costlier. This level of retail inflation is slightly above the Reserve Bank’s satisfactory range.
According to official data released on Monday, retail inflation in the oil and fat segment stood at 18.7 percent. Inflation in other segments, including fuel and lighting, textiles and footwear, and transport and communication sectors, rose 9 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, the inflation figure for December 2021 has been revised to 5.66 percent from 5.59 percent. It was 4.06 percent in January 2021. Earlier, inflation stood at a high of 6.26 percent in June 2021.
According to the inflation data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Monday, inflation in food articles stood at 5.43 percent in January 2022 as against 4.05 percent in the previous month. Inflation in cereals and their products rose to 3.39 percent in January from 2.62 percent in December 2021.
As per the data, inflation in the meat and fish category rose to 5.47 percent from 4.58 percent in the previous month. Inflation in the case of vegetables rose to 5.19 percent as against a fall of 2.99 percent in December. However, inflation in the oil and fat segment moderated to 18.70 percent. Inflation in the fuel and lighting segment eased to 9.32 percent from 10.95 percent in December.
The Reserve Bank, while considering monetary policy, mainly takes into account inflation based on the Consumer Price Index. The government has given the responsibility to the central bank to maintain the retail inflation rate at 4 percent with a variation of two percent.
