CPI inflation eases slightly to 6.69% in August

15 Sep 2020 Evaluate

The Retail inflation, measured by Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased slightly to 6.69% in the month of August 2020 as compared to 6.73% in July. The retail inflation has grown beyond the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper margin of 6%. The government has mandated the Indian central bank to keep inflation within the range of 4% with a margin of 2% on either side. Besides, CPI for the month of July was revised to 6.73% from 6.93%. The National Statistical Office (NSO) under Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in its data has showed that the Rural CPI (General) in August stood at 6.66% as against 6.76% in July. The Urban CPI (General) stood at 6.80% in August as against 6.70% in July.

The Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) or the inflation in the food basket eased to 9.05% in the month of August. Also, the data revealed that the CFPI for July was revised to 9.27% from 9.62%. Further, the data indicated that the Rural CFPI stood at 9.11% in August as compared to 9.47% in July. The Urban CFPI saw a decline at 8.82% in August as against 8.99% in July.

Segment-wise, the rate of price rise in ‘cereals and products’ category came down to 5.92% during the month under review from 6.96% in July. Inflation in ‘meat and fish’, ‘milk and products’ and pulses categories also slowed to 16.50%, 6.15% and 14.44%, respectively. However, prices of eggs, fruits and vegetables accelerated at a faster pace, with inflation print at 10.11%, 1% and 11.41%. The data also showed that retail inflation in the fuel and light category rose to 3.10% from 2.80%. Besides, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said that the price data were collected from representative and selected 1,114 urban markets and 1,181 villages covering all States/UTs.