Retail inflation cools to 3.69% in August

India's retail inflation, measured by Consumer Price Index (CPI), slipped to a ten-month low of 3.69 per cent in the month of August.

As per data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, August's inflation rate stood at 3.69 per cent, down from 4.17 per cent last month and up from 3.28 per cent in the same period last year.

While food inflation for the month of August slipped to 0.29 per cent, vegetables registered -7 per cent inflation compared to the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the month of July 2018 stood at 125.8, which is 6.6 per cent higher as compared to July 2017 figures.

The IIP for the mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors for the month of July 2018 stood at 95.8, 127.6 and 162.1, respectively, with corresponding growth rates of 3.7 per cent, 7 per cent and 6.7 per cent, respectively.

As per the data, 22 out of the 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during the month of July 2018 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, with the industry group 'Manufacture of furniture' recording highest positive growth of 42.7 per cent, followed by 30.8 per cent in 'Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products' and 28.4 per cent in 'Manufacture of tobacco products'.

On the other hand, the industry group 'Manufacture of paper and paper products' and 'Printing and reproduction of recorded media' have shown the highest negative growth of (-) 2.7 per cent, followed by (-) 0.9 per cent in 'Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c.'.