India’s CPI-inflation slows down to 9.31% in May

12 Jun 2013 Evaluate

Giving some respite to Indian poilymakers, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) slowed for the third straight month in May to 9.31%. As per the government’s data, provisional annual inflation rate based on all India general combined CPI for May 2013 on point to point basis stood at 9.31%, lower as compared to 9.39% for April 2013.

Further, CPI numbers for rural, urban and combined were at 129.8, 128.4 and 129.2 respectively. The corresponding inflation rates for rural and urban areas for May came in at 8.98% and 9.65%.  While final inflation rates for rural and urban for the month of April were revised at 9.16% and 9.73% respectively. The consumer food price based inflation came in at 10.65% versus 10.61% month-on-month.

Among all the constituents that make the CPI, cereals recorded the highest inflation of 16.29 percent in May. Beside this, inflation in pulses stood at 9.59 percent and in sugar it was 9.21 percent on an annual basis. The prices in the vegetables basket rose sharply to 9.78 percent in May from 5.43 percent in April. Inflation in protein-based items -- egg, meat and fish -- declined to 12.52 percent during the month, from 13.60 percent in April. In oils and fats segment, it was 5.49 percent, down from 7.52 percent in April. The overall food and beverages segment saw an inflation of 10.65 percent in May, higher than 10.61 percent in April. The rate of price rise in clothing and footwear segment stood at 9.72 percent during the month.

India, so far, has the highest retail inflation among the BRICS group of emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, China, and South Africa. However, unlike most central banks, the Reserve Bank of India mainly uses the wholesale price index (WPI) for setting up its monetary policy. The data for wholesale price index-based inflation for May is expected on Friday. The WPI in April eased to over three-year low of 4.89 percent.

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