Retail inflation drops to 11-month low of 5.88%; factory output drops

Retail inflation fell to an 11-month low of 5.88 per cent in November, mainly due to softening prices of food items, official data showed on Monday.

This is the first time in 11 months that the retail inflation print has come within the RBI’s tolerance band of 4 (+/- 2) per cent.

The consumer price index (CPI) based retail inflation was 6.77 per cent in October 2022, and 4.91 per cent in November last year.

As per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), inflation in the food basket was 4.67 per cent in November, against 7.01 per cent in the previous month.

After remaining above the Reserve Bank’s upper tolerance threshold of 6 per cent since January, retail inflation has declined to its lowest level in 11 months. In December 2021, the retail inflation stood at 5.66 per cent.

The Reserve Bank had last week said the worst of inflation is behind us, but there is no room for complacency in the fight against price rise. The central bank also said it will keep ‘Arjuna’s eye’ (keen focus) on the evolving inflation dynamics and projected inflation to remain above 4 per cent for the next 12 months.

The RBI’s interest rate-setting panel last week hiked the benchmark rate by 35 basis points to 6.25 per cent, taking the cumulative rate hikes to 2.25 per cent since May 2022.

India’s industrial production contracted by 4 per cent in October, mainly due to a decline in the manufacturing sector output and subdued growth in mining and power generation, according to official data released on Friday.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had grown 4.2 per cent in October 2021.

As per the IIP data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the manufacturing sector’s output declined by 5.6 per cent in October 2022.

The mining output rose by a meagre 2.5 per cent and power generation increased by 1.2 per cent during the month.