Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Nov.15: The government data released on Monday shows that India’s annual wholesale price-based inflation accelerated to a five-month high of 12.54% in October, up from 10.66% in September, pushed up by higher increases in petrol and manufacturing prices.
According to the Commerce Ministry’s monthly data, the figure stayed in double digits for the seventh month in a row.
“The high rate of inflation in October is primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, basic metals, food products, crude petroleum and natural gas, chemicals and chemical products as compared the corresponding month of the previous year,” the Ministry said.
Fuel and power costs increased 37.18 % year over year in October, compared to 24.81 % in September, while manufactured product prices increased 12.04 %, compared to 11.41 % in September.
The food index increased to 3.06 % in October, up from 1.14 % in September.
The manufactured products’ index increased by 0.82 per cent in October. “The increase in prices is mainly contributed by manufacturer of basic metals; chemicals and chemical products; electrical equipment; rubber and plastics products and textiles,” the Ministry stated.
According to another set of data issued on Friday, retail inflation increased to 4.48 % in October, owing to an increase in food costs.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which bases its bi-monthly monetary policy mostly on consumer price-based or retail inflation, has been mandated by the government to keep it at 4%, with a tolerance zone of 2% on either side.
CPI inflation is expected to be 5.3 % in 2021-22, according to the RBI: 5.1% in the second quarter (Q2), 4.5 % in the third quarter (Q3), and 5.8% in the fourth quarter (Q4) of the fiscal year, with risks broadly balanced.
The retail inflation rate is expected to be 5.2 % in April-June 2022-23.
