New Delhi, Jan 12 (Mayank Nigam) India’s retail inflation eased to 5.72% in December 2022 primarily on the back of decline in food prices. The consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation has remained below RBI’s upper tolerance band of 6% for the second consecutive month. The retail inflation had stood at 5.88% in November last year. As per the data released by Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI), food inflation in December 2022 stood at 4.19% as compared to 4.67% in the previous month. “Although food inflation has declined, the worrying trend is continuous increase of cereals and products inflation, which is trending upwards from May 2022 and in last three months it has remained in double digits,” said Sunil Sinha, Principal Economist, India Ratings & Research.
Meanwhile, India factory output measured by Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew at 7.1% in the month of November 2022 on the back of low base. As per the official data, the manufacturing sector registered 6.1% year-on-year growth in November 2022. Mining and electricity sectors recorded 9.7% and 12.7% year-on-year growth respectively during this period. “Unlike previous few months, all segments at the use-based classification recorded positive growth. The last such month in which all used based segments had recorded positive growth was June 2022. The strong double digit growth witnessed in capital and infrastructure goods though is on a low base is welcome change after a dismal performance in October 2022,” said Sinha.