Retail Inflation Cools to 3.31% on Cheaper Vegetables, Pulses

The ease in inflation augurs well for the economy in the face of rising crude oil prices.

October inflation eased on back of cheap vegetable and pulses.

(Photo: The Quint)

Inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI), or retail inflation for the month of October eased to a multi-month low of 3.31 percent from 3.70 percent in September, government data showed on Monday, 11 November.

Retail inflation had fallen to a ten-month low of 3.69 percent before rising marginally to 3.77 percent in September on the back of slightly higher food and fuel prices.

Fall in prices of vegetables and pulses in the month of October aided in dragging down the inflation further. For the month of October, vegetables saw a negative inflation of 11.66 percent while pulses saw inflation cooling by 8.70 percent.

The overall food inflation came down by 0.86 percent during the month.

The ease in inflation means it is well under the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) target of 4 percent. RBI had recently revised its inflation projection downwards to 3.9-4.5 percent from 4.8 percent for the second half of the current fiscal year.

In another set of data, the September industrial production inched up marginally to 4.5 percent from 4.3 percent in August.

(With inputs from PIB)