India's consumer price inflation eases to 6.58% on February

India’s consumer price inflation has been steadily rising after hitting 3.15 per cent in July as food prices continued to rise steadily for the past few months, as opposed to the wholesale price inflation that has steadily declined till September.

However, prices of vegetables and fruits have started falling now, which is helping to rein in rising inflation, official data released today showed. 

At 6.59 per cent, consumer price inflation is still above the upper end of Reserve Bank of India’s tolerance level of 2-6 per cent, which makes it difficult for RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee to manipulate interest rates and push up credit flow to support the economy.

Consumer price inflation stood at 7.59 per cent in January 2020, according to data released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.

The inflation rate based on the consumer price index (CPI) was 2.57 per cent in January 2019.

Data released by the CSO showed that inflation rate for the food basket eased to 10.81 per cent in February 2020 from 13.6 per cent in January. Food price inflation stood at (-) 0.73 per cent in February 2019.

Consumer price inflation for rural areas stood at 6.67 per cent in February 2020 down from.73 per cent in January. It was 1.81 per cent in February 2019.

Consumer price inflation for the urban areas 6.57 per cent in February 2020, down from 7.39 per cent in January. It was at 3.43 per cent in February 2019.

Food price inflation for rural areas stood at 10.37 per cent in February 2020, down from 13.02 per cent in January. It was (-) 1.75 per cent in February 2019.

Food price inflation for urban areas declined to levels of 11.51 per cent in February 2020 from 14.77 per cent in January. It was 1.27 per cent in February 2019.