India's consumer price inflation zooms to 6.52% in January
15 Feb 2023
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Consumer price inflation in the country, based on the consumer price index, climbed to 6.52 per cent in January 2023 from 5.72 per cent in December 2022, breaching the Reserve Bank’s tolerance level, as supply strains eased with the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions.
Data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed that consumer price inflation remained volatile for most of the current financial year. It hit a high of 5.52 per cent in March and showed a downward trend in April only to climb up to 6.30 per cent in May 2021. However, there has been a onward trend since June this year.
Consumer price inflation for rural areas stood at 6.85per cent in January 2023 against 6.05 per cent in December 2022, while the inflation rate for urban consumers stood at 6.00 per cent in January 2023 against 5.32 per cent in December 2022.
Food price inflation rate increased to 5.94 per cent in January 2023 from 4.19 per cent in December 2022.
While food price inflation for rural areas increased to 6.65 per cent in January 2023 September from 3.08 per cent in August, food price inflation rate for urban consumers increased to 5.94 per cent in January 2023 from 4.19 per cent in December 2022.
While food prices have moderated to some extent, the rising trajectory of global crude prices and a broad-based surge in international commodity prices and logistics costs is having an impact on core prices, although weak demand conditions may temper the pass-through to consumer inflation to some extent.
