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Retail inflation eases to 4-month low of 5.22% in December
Jan-13-2025

Retail inflation eased to a four-month low of 5.22 percent in December compared to 5.48 percent in November. The inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 5.69 percent in December 2023. The decrease in December’s inflation was largely attributed to a notable drop in prices of key food items, including vegetables, pulses, sugar, and cereals. All India Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) or food inflation for the month of December fell to 8.39 percent from 9.04 percent in November and 9.53 percent in December 2023. Despite the slowing pace of growth in prices, the retail inflation stayed above the Reserve Bank of India’s 4 percent tolerance level, with two percentage points of deviation on either side.

The NSO, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in its data has showed that Rural CPI (General) in December 2024 stood at 5.76 percent over 5.95 percent in November 2024. The Urban CPI (General) stood at 4.58 percent in December as against 4.89 percent in November. The index value for Rural, Urban and Combined CPI (General) stood at 198.4, 192.0 and 195.4 respectively, in December 2024. The price data are collected from selected 1114 urban Markets and 1181 villages covering all States/UTs through personal visits by field staff of Field Operations Division of NSO, MoSPI on a weekly roster. During the month of December 2024, NSO collected prices from 99.9 percent villages and 98.6 percent urban markets while the market-wise prices reported therein were 89.5 percent for rural and 93.15 percent for urban.

Food prices eased on the back of a slower pace of inflation in vegetable prices, which stood at 26.56% in December last year compared to 29.33% the month before. Cereal prices for December came in at 6.51 percent against 6.9 percent in November. Inflation in pulses stood at 3.83 percent against 5.4 percent in the previous month. Cereals, pulses and vegetables were the main driver of inflation last year due to weather shocks. Housing inflation rate for December 2024 on a year-on-year basis stood at 2.71 percent. Corresponding inflation rate for the month of November 2024 was 2.87 percent.


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