India CPI Inflation, IIP Growth Rate: The country’s retail inflation, which is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose to an eight-year high 7.79 percent on April. Separately, India’s factory output, measured in terms of the Industrial Production Index (IIP), witnessed a growth of 1.9 percent In March, two separate data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI) were shown on Thursday.
Retail inflation for the month of March was 6.95 percent.
This is the fourth month in a row that CPI data has broken above the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) 6 percent upper margin. The government has ordered the central bank to keep retail inflation at 4% with a 2% margin on both sides for a five-year period ending in March 2026.
The CPI data is mainly taken into account by the RBI when making its bi-monthly monetary policy. Last week, in a sudden move, the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) held an off-cycle meeting where increased the repo rate by 40 basis points at 4.40 percent and the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points at 4.50 percent.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das in his speech last week said the increase in the repo rate and cash reserve ratio was aimed at controlling elevated inflation amid global turmoil in the wake of the war. from Ukraine.
The Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) o Inflation in the food basket also shot up in the month of April to 8.38 percent7.68 percent in March, the data revealed.
The rebound in the food basket was due to a sharp increase in the prices of oils and fats, which rose 17.28 percent year-on-year in April. Apart from this, the prices of vegetables experienced a rise of 15.41% while spices rose 10.56% and meat and fish rose 6.97%. Prepared meals, sandwiches, sweets, etc. rose 7.10 percent last month, cereals and products rose 5.96 percent and milk and milk products rose 5.47 percent.
Apart from food and beverages, the fuel and light segment rose 10.80 percent, the clothing and footwear segment gained 9.85 percent, the housing segment rose 3.47 percent and bread, tobacco and narcotics rose 2 .70 percent.
Industrial production (IIP)
India’s factory output, which is measured in IIP terms, saw year-on-year growth of 1.9 percent to 148.3 during the month of March, separate data released by the MoSPI showed.
The IIP had risen 24.2 percent in March 2021, the data showed.
industrial growth in the Fiscal Year 2021-22 (April-March) it rose 11.3 percent, compared with a contraction of (-)8.4 percent a year ago, the data showed.
The growth in the IIP data during March is due to the electricity and mining sectors. The mining sector rose 4.0 percent year on year to 144.6 in March. The electricity sector experienced growth of 6.1 percent to 191.0. Apart from these, the key manufacturing sector saw growth of 0.9 percent to 144.6, the MoSPI data He showed.
In March last year, the manufacturing sector had experienced strong growth of 28.4 percent. During the same month, the mining sector had risen 6.1 percent, while the power sector had seen 22.5 percent growth, the data showed.
Reference-indianexpress.com