Inflation in protein-based items -- egg, meat and fish -- stood at 14.36 per cent during the month. In oils and fats segment, it stood at 11.72 per cent.
'Even if India is attractive, FPIs currently lack the funds to invest, as money is being redirected to the US.'
It was higher than 3.2 per cent rate registered in February, the lowest pace recorded in 20 months, state run Xinhua reported.
Post workers are collecting data that determines the level of India's consumer price index, which is likely to become RBI's most important tool for setting monetary policy.
Retail inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index, was 8.83 per cent in February, as per the government data release in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The wholesale price-based inflation rose to a four-month high of 14.55 per cent in March, mainly due to hardening of crude oil and commodity prices, even though vegetables witnessed easing of price pressures. As per the government data released on Monday, WPI inflation has remained in double digits for the 12th consecutive month beginning April 2021. The last time such a level of WPI was recorded was in November 2021, when inflation was 14.87 per cent.
The CPI, based on retail prices, stood at 108.8 points in June.
This breathes in a sense of relief for the Indian economy already reeling under low growth rate, depreciation of rupee and slowing down of industrial production.
Costlier vegetables and fruits, such as onions and tomatoes, drove retail inflation to 10.09 per cent in October, entering double digits after seven months.
Food prices for consumers rose an annual 10.65 per cent in May, slightly faster than an annual rise of 10.61 per cent in April.
The vegetables basket in Dec. recorded the highest inflation of 25.71 per cent.
The retail inflation was 9.90 per cent in November and 9.75 per cent in October.
Investors' wealth eroded by more than Rs 2.21 lakh crore in early trade on Wednesday, with the market witnessing a selling-off amid prospects of aggressive rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve to tackle high inflation, and sluggish global trends. In less than an hour of the start of trading on Wednesday, the key indices -- Sensex and Nifty -- were deep in the red and witnessed significant volatility, reflecting jittery investor sentiments. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies, which is also an indicator of wealth of investors, tumbled more than Rs 2.21 lakh crore to Rs 2,84,49,727.56 crore amid the 30-share Sensex falling 564.76 points to 60,006.32 points.
Manufacturing activities in India touched a three-month high in March boosted by faster expansions in new orders and output amid demand resilience and easing of cost pressures, according to a monthly survey. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose from 55.3 in February to 56.4 in March, signalling the strongest improvement in operating conditions in 2023 so far. The March PMI data pointed to an improvement in overall operating conditions for the 21st straight month.
The overall market breadth remained firm as 1,673 stocks are advancing while 1,303 are declining.
The 30-share Sensex ended up 222 points at 25,229 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 73 points at 7,527.
The wholesale price-based inflation spiked to 12.54 per cent in October, mainly due to rise in prices of manufactured products and crude petroleum. WPI inflation has remained in double digit for the seventh consecutive month beginning April. Inflation in September this year was at 10.66 per cent, while in October 2020 it was at 1.31 per cent.
Retail inflation during the first month of the current fiscal stood at 2.9 per cent, down from 4.6 per cent a year ago. Food inflation based on Consumer Food Price Index declined to a low of 0.1 per cent during the financial year 2018-19, the survey said.
A wider fiscal deficit despite higher divestment will be a disappointing beginning.
Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty on Friday spurted by nearly 2 per cent, propelled by heavy buying in IT, metal and financial stocks amid a rally in global markets after lower-than-expected US inflation data. A strong rupee against the US dollar and unabated foreign capital inflows further bolstered sentiment, traders said. Easing US inflation triggered speculation that the US Federal Reserve might slow down the pace of interest rate hikes.
While headline and core WPI are stuck in a disinflationary phase, the retail measure is inching north.
There are respected names arguing both for and against this recommendation of the Urjit Patel committee.
Inflation in fruits was 8.93 per cent.
The ever-astute Ravi Matthai, Director of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in 1971, offered me a basic salary of Rs 1,000 per month on my return from the United States. I doubt if IIMA could hire a faculty member at Rs 55,000 per month today! points out Dr Shreekant Sambrani.
FMCG: Cut in excise duty on baby, clinical diapers, adult diapers and sanitary napkins.
Retail inflation declined to a 25-month low of 4.25 per cent in May mainly on account of softening prices of food and fuel items, with experts saying that RBI is expected to hold interest rates steady in the current fiscal. This is the fourth straight month when retail inflation has declined and the third straight month of Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation remaining within the RBI's comfort zone of below 6 per cent. CPI-based inflation stood at 4.7 per cent in April and 7.04 per cent in May 2022.
The Consumer Price Index-based inflation rose to 5.11% in January
It would not be surprising if India, the world's largest producer of milk, has to resort to imports to meet the elevated summer demand, states Surinder Sud.
Retail inflation dipped marginally to 6.44 per cent in February, mainly on account of a slight easing in prices of food and fuel items though it remained above the Reserve Bank's comfort level of 6 per cent for the second month in a row. As per the government data released on Monday, the Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation was at 6.52 per cent in January and 6.07 per cent in February 2022. The retail inflation rate for the food basket worked out to be 5.95 per cent in February, marginally lower than 6 per cent in January.
The rate of price rise for consumer foods eased to 4.7 per cent in January, from 4.96 per cent in December.
With fuel being the main input cost for the transport sector, rise in cost of operations is a given. The sector is unsure on the extent of being able to pass this on through rentals or to absorb it with higher volumes.
The policy review observed that the moderation in inflation, excluding food and fuel, that was witnessed in the first quarter of 2017-18 has "by and large, reversed".
Dairy, sugar prices fall sharply, despite El Nio fears
The performance of banking and information technology (IT) stocks has had a significant impact on the composition of diversified mutual fund (MF) portfolios. Over the past two months, these sectors have become increasingly dominant, now constituting nearly 30 per cent of the total allocation in many diversified MF portfolios.
The Bharatiya Janata Party notes with dismay the fact that the consumer price inflation in India today is the highest among all the countries of Asia-Pacific.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) State of the Economy report for October acknowledged a slowdown in some high-frequency indicators but expressed confidence in a recovery, aided by consumption demand during the festival season. "In India, aggregate demand is poised to shrug off the temporary slowdown in momentum in the second quarter of 2024-25 as festival demand picks up pace and consumer confidence improves," said the report released on Monday.
Overall retail inflation in rural and urban areas stood at 7.38 per cent and 8.25 per cent in January, respectively.
There could possibly be some reduction in home/auto loan outgo.
RBI will be considering this set of data for formulating its next bi-monthly monetary policy on October 5.
To curb soaring inflation, the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, has raised the benchmark interest rate three times this year.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances