Nov retail inflation slumps to 17-month low on easing food prices

Retail inflation plunged to a 17-month low in November at 2.33 per cent, mainly on account of decline in prices of kitchen essentials like vegetables, eggs and pulses.

Retail inflation, which is calculated on the consumer price index (CPI), for October this year has been revised slightly up at 3.38 per cent from 3.31 per cent earlier, data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed Wednesday.

In the year-ago period (November 2017), it was at 4.88 per cent.

Retail inflation, a key input for the RBI to decide on its monetary policy, was lower than this in June 2017 when it stood at 1.46 per cent, as per data by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI). The CSO comes under MOSPI.

The overall food inflation showed a negative print of 2.61 per cent in November against an uptick of 0.86 per cent in October.

Vegetables prices showed a sharp decline with inflation standing at (-)15.59 per cent in November as against (-) 8.06 per cent in the previous month.

For pulses and its products, the rate of deflation slowed a tad at (-) 9.22 per cent from (-) 10.28 per cent. Protein rich eggs inflation came in at (-) 3.92 per cent as against 2.21 per cent in October.

For fuel and light category, the rate of price rise eased to 7.39 per cent during the month from 8.55 per cent.

However, meat and fish turned costlier at 4.99 per cent from 3.02 per cent. For fruits, the inflation moderated to 0.21 per cent from 0.35 per cent.