Retail inflation for industrial workers inches up to 9.6% in Oct

Retail inflation for industrial workers climbed to 9.6 per cent in October on account higher prices of wheat and rice, from 9.39 per cent in the same month last year.

The retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers, stood at 9.14 per cent in September, as per the official data released on Friday.

The largest upward contribution to the change in the index came from food items which increased by 0.43 per cent, contributing 0.45 percentage points to the total change.

The largest upward pressure on inflation came from items such as rice, wheat, wheat atta, milk, tea (readymade) and onion.

The other items like cooking gas, electricity charges, fire wood, medicine, doctors' fee, bus fare, cinema charges, also put upward pressure in total change.

The largest downward contribution to the change in current index came from oils and fats with a decline of 1.08 per cent, contributing (-) 0.10 percentage points to the total change.

The main downward pressure came from groundnut oil, coconut oil, vanaspati ghee and palm oil.

Similarly, the food inflation stood at 9.91 per cent in October against 11 per cent of the previous month and 8.72 per cent during the corresponding month of 2011.