India’s retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) slowed down from a 14-month high of 6.21 percent in October 2024 to 5.48 percent in November 2024, as food prices cooled off. All India Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) or food inflation for the month of November 2024 stood at 9.04 percent. It was 10.87 percent in October 2024. The November inflation reading is within the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) tolerance level. The RBI is tasked to keep CPI-based inflation at 4 percent, with a tolerance band of 2 percentage points on either side.
The NSO, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in its data has showed that Rural CPI (General) in November 2024 stood at 5.95 percent over 6.68 percent in October 2024. The Urban CPI (General) stood at 4.83 percent in November as against 5.62 percent in October. The index value for Rural, Urban and Combined CPI (General) stood at 199.4, 193.1 and 196.5 respectively, in November 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 November 2024, NSO collected prices from 99.8 percent villages and 98.5 percent urban markets while the market-wise prices reported therein were 88.8 percent for rural and 92.5 percent for urban.
Besides, Vegetable prices rose 29.33 percent year-on-year in November after accelerating 42.18 percent in October. Cereal prices rose by 6.88 percent after rising by 6.94 percent in October. Inflation for meat and fish was 4.67 percent compared to a rise of 3.17 percent in the previous month. Inflation in eggs rose 4.84 percent after rising by 4.87 percent last month. The inflation rate for milk and milk products was 2.85 percent, compared to 2.97 percent in the previous month. Inflation in Pulses and products rose 5.41 percent after rising by 7.43 percent last month. Clothing and footwear inflation rose to 2.75 percent, compared to 2.79 percent in the previous month. Housing prices went up by 2.87 percent, compared to 2.81 percent last month.