Retail inflation inches up to 4.91% in Nov

Retail inflation rose marginally to 4.91 per cent in November, mainly due to an uptick in food prices, government data showed on Monday.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation was 4.48 per cent in October 2021 and 6.93 per cent in November 2020.

As per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), food inflation was at 1.87 per cent in November this year compared to 0.85 per cent in the preceding month.

The Reserve Bank, which mainly factors in the retail inflation while arriving at its bi-monthly monetary policy, expects the inflation print to be somewhat higher over the rest of the year as base effects turn adverse.

According to the RBI, it is expected that headline inflation will peak in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal and soften thereafter.

Photograph: PTI Photo