Retail inflation hits 8-yr high of 7.8% in Apr on costlier fuel, food items

Factory output shows poor growth at 1.9% in March

The retail inflation rate galloped to a 95-month high in April at 7.8 per cent, paving the way for more policy rate hikes by the central bank even as factory output growth remained lacklustre at 1.9 per cent in March, signalling weak domestic demand.

The sharper than expected spike justified the surprise off-cycle rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week by 40 basis points, with inflation remaining above the central bank’s upper tolerance limit for four consecutive months. The data released by the National Statistical Office showed the food inflation rate in April spiralled to 8.38 per