Retail inflation cools down to 4.31% in January as food prices moderate

12 Feb 2025 Evaluate

India’s retail inflation measured based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased to 4.31 per cent in January 2025 as against 5.22 per cent in December 2024 on slowing food price rises. The January reading was the lowest since August 2024. The inflation is within the RBI’s target range. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been tasked by the government to ensure retail inflation remains at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side. The CPI data is mainly factored in by the RBI while making its bi-monthly monetary policy. Food inflation, which makes up around half of the overall CPI basket, eased to 6.02 per cent in January from 8.39 per cent in December.

The NSO, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in its data has showed that Rural CPI (General) in January 2025 stood at 4.64 percent over 5.76 percent in December 2024. The Urban CPI (General) stood at 3.87 percent in January as against 4.58 percent in December. The index value for Rural, Urban and Combined CPI (General) stood at 196.0, 190.6 and 193.5 respectively, in January 2025. The price data are collected from selected 1114 urban Markets and 1181 villages covering all States/UTs through personal visits by field staff of Field Operations Division of NSO, MoSPI on a weekly roster. During the month of January 2025, NSO collected prices from 99.7% villages and 98.5% urban markets while the market-wise prices reported therein were 88.7% for rural and 93.1% for urban.

Besides, Food and beverage inflation eased to 5.68 per cent in January from 7.69 per cent in December. This was led by vegetable prices further cooling to 11.35 per cent compared to 26.56 per cent in the same duration. Inflation for meat and fish was 5.25 per cent compared to a rise of 5.30 per cent in the previous month. Inflation in eggs rose 1.27 per cent after rising by 6.85 per cent last month. The inflation rate for milk and milk products was 2.85 per cent as compared to 2.80 per cent in the previous month. Inflation in pulses rose 2.59 per cent after rising by 3.83 per cent last month. Clothing and footwear inflation rose to 2.68 per cent, compared to 2.74 per cent in the previous month.


© 2025 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×