Waking ahead in high, exorbitant product prices, October retail inflation reaches 16-month high of 4.62%

New Delhi, November 14: Aligning to the food basked that rose to 7.89 per cent in the month of October, retail inflation has touched a 16-month high of 4.62 per cent cornering higher food prices. Notably, this is the first month since August 2018 that retail inflation has breached the 4 per cent medium-term target set by the Reserve Bank of India.

 

 

Calculated on the basis of Consumer Price Index (CPI), the value of vegetables skyrocketed on the back of high exorbitant onion and tomato prices. Vegetables saw the highest inflation rate of 26.10 per cent in October, followed by pulses and products at 11.72 per cent.

 

RPI is an older measurement of inflation that is still published because it is used to calculate cost of living and wage escalation; however, it is not considered an official inflation rate by the government.

 

Meanwhile, fuel and light became cheaper in October as inflation in the segment declined by 2 per cent. Transport and communication also became marginally cheaper, posting a deflation rate of 0.47 per cent.