Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: India’s retail inflation, based on the new Consumer Price Index (CPI) series, edged up to 4.45 per cent in July, compared to the same month of the previous year, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics on August 12.
The commodities that posted the highest inflation during the month were silver jewellery, which saw a 109.84 per cent jump in prices and gold jewellery, which clocked a 32.98 per cent increase in prices.
Overall food inflation in July stood at 5.52 per cent as the prices of potato plummeted by as much as (-)16.56 per cent during the month while ladies’ fingers, peas, and tomatoes turned cheaper by about (-) 5 per cent. However, the prices of ginger, garlic and onions shot up during the month, the figures showed.
Among the other goods which turned cheaper during June were cars, which registered a (-) 6.72 per cent decline in prices.
The year-on-year housing inflation rate for the month stood at 2.22 per cent.
Sequentially, the inflation rate in July has moved up from 4.38 per cent in the previous month of June.
The CPI inflation is well within the RBI safe zone, which has 4 per cent as the midpoint. The tolerance zone of the RBI ranges from 2 per cent to 6 per cent. The RBI’s monetary policy aims to keep inflation within this zone as it balances its objective of promoting economic growth with stability.
RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said last week, after the announcement of the monetary policy review, that headline inflation has moved above target mainly because of higher fuel prices, while broader price pressures remain in check. The RBI maintained a status quo on the repo rate to push growth.
