India’s retail inflation falls to 5.3% in August as food prices go down

As per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), inflation in the food basket was 3.11% in August compared to 3.96% in the preceding month.

Representational image | Workers unload sacks of rice at a grocery store in Bengaluru in June 2021 | Dhiraj Singh | Bloomberg

New Delhi: Retail inflation fell marginally to 5.3 per cent in August mainly due to easing food prices, official data showed on Monday.

The retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 5.59 per cent in July and 6.69 per cent in August 2020.

As per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), inflation in the food basket was 3.11 per cent in August compared to 3.96 per cent in the preceding month.

The Reserve Bank had kept the key interest rate unchanged in its monetary policy review in August. It focuses mainly on the CPI while deciding its bi-monthly monetary policy.

The RBI has projected the CPI inflation at 5.7 per cent during 2021-22 — 5.9 per cent in the second quarter, 5.3 per cent in third, and 5.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of the fiscal, with risks broadly balanced. CPI inflation for Q1 2022-23 is projected at 5.1 per cent.