Retail inflation softens to 4.4 pct for Feb

India's retail inflation eased for a second straight month in February to 4.44 percent, from January's 5.07 percent, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said on Monday.

The general index for the month of January 2018 stands at 132.3, which is 7.5 percent higher as compared to the level in the month of January 2017.

Further, the cumulative growth for the period April - January 2017-18 over the corresponding period of the previous year stands at 4.1 percent.

The indices of industrial production for mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors for the month of January 2018 stands at 114.5, 133.8 and 149.5 respectively, with the corresponding growth rates of 0.1 percent, 8.7 percent and 7.6 percent as compared to January 2017.

On the other hand, the cumulative growth in these three sectors during April - January 2017-18 over the corresponding period of 2016 - 17 has been 2.5 percent, 4.3 percent and 5.3 percent respectively.

Interms of industries, sixteen out of the twenty-three industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during the month of January 2018 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

The industry group 'Manufacture of other transport equipment' has shown the highest positive growth of 33.1 percent followed by 27.8 percent in 'Manufacture of furniture' and 26.6 percent in 'Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers'.

On the other hand, the industry group 'Manufacture of tobacco products' has shown the highest negative growth of (-) 46.5 percent followed by (-) 32.4 percent in 'Other manufacturing' and (-) 13.2 percent in 'Printing and reproduction of recorded media'.

As per use-based classification, the growth rates in January 2018 over January 2017 are 5.8 percent in primary goods, 14.6 percent in capital goods, 4.9 percent in intermediate goods and 6.8 percent in infrastructure/construction goods.

The consumer durables and consumer non-durables have recorded growth of eight percent and 10.5 percent respectively.

Some important item groups showing high positive growth during the current month over the same month in previous year include 'Bodies of trucks, lorries and trailers' (267.5 percent), 'Steroids and hormonal preparations (including anti-fungal preparations)' (102.9 percent), 'Stainless steel utensils' (89.2 percent), 'Axle' (58.8 percent), 'Separators including decanter centrifuge' (49.7 percent), 'Sugar' (40.9 percent), 'Two-wheelers (motorcycles/ scooters)' (37.7 percent), 'Digestive enzymes and antacids (incl. PPI drugs)' (31.7 percent), 'Commercial Vehicles' (29.8 percent), 'Films of polythene, polyester, PVC and other forms of plastic' (22 percent) and 'Cement- all types' (21.5 percent).