Retail Inflation Rises To 4.48% In Oct; IIP Increases 3.1% In September

Retail inflation in the country, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), increased to 4.48 percent in October.

Separately, India's manufacturing output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), increased by 3.1% year on year in September, according to two different figures provided on Friday by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

In the month of September, retail inflation was 4.35 percent.

The CPI data has fallen below the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) upper margin of 6% for the fourth month in a row. For a five-year term ending March 2026, the government has asked the central bank to keep retail inflation at 4% with a 2% buffer on either side.

The RBI uses CPI statistics heavily when determining its bi-monthly monetary policy. The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kept the repo rate at 4% for the eighth time in a row last month, lowered the inflation target for 2021-22 to 5.3 percent, and signaled the unwinding of accommodative policy as the economy shows signs of recovering from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the report, the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI), which measures inflation in the food basket, increased significantly month over month in October to 0.85 percent, up from 0.68 percent in September.

Index of Industrial Production (IIP)

Meanwhile, according to data issued by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, industrial production increased by 3.1 percent in September compared to 1% the previous month (MoSPI). In August, IIP increased by 11.9 percent.

Mining output increased by 8.6% in September, while industrial output increased by 2.7 percent.

Meanwhile, power generation increased by 0.9 percent in August. For the previous few months, industrial production has been soaring, owing to last year's low foundation.