India's retail inflation eased to 6.26 per cent in June as compared to 6.3 per cent in May, the government data released by the MoSPI said on Monday. The high retail inflation can be attributed to soaring fuel prices and food items getting costlier.
The ministry of statistics and programme implementation data shows food inflation rose to 5.15 per cent in June compared to 5.01 per cent in May. The latest CPI figures are still way above the Reserve Bank's tolerance level of 4 (+/- 2) per cent. This is the second month straight that CPI figures have surpassed the RBI level.
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During the month of June 2021, NSO collected prices from 99.6 per cent villages and 98.6 per cent urban markets. The market-wise prices reported therein were 78.7 per cent for rural and 82 per cent for urban, the MoSPI said.
The data released on industrial output for May shows Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose 29.3 per cent in the month over a low-base effect last year. The IIP data, released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), shows manufacturing sector output surged 34.5 per cent in May. Mining output climbed 23.3 per cent and power generation increased 7.5 per cent.
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The industrial output, measured by the IIP, shrunk 33.4 per cent in May last year as Covid-19 curbs hit the Indian economy hard. Industrial production has been hit due to coronavirus since March last year. It had shrank 57.3 per cent in April 2020 due to decline in economic activities in the wake of the lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus infections.
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