High food prices lift India’s Dec retail inflation rate

New Delhi: High food prices accelerated India’s December 2021 retail inflation rate on a sequential and year-on-year basis.

Data furnished by the National Statistical Office showed that the Consumer Price Index rose by 5.59 per cent last month from 4.91 per cent in November 2021.

Similarly, on YoY basis, the rise in last month’s retail inflation was faster than the 4.59 per cent rise recorded for December 2020.

The macro-economic data assumes significance as retail inflation has almost reached the range limit of the Reserve Bank of India’s set target of 2-6 per cent. Region-wise, the CPI Urban rose to 5.83 per cent last month from 5.54 per cent in November 2021 and the CPI Rural spiked to 5.36 per cent from 4.29 per cent.

As per the NSO data, the rate of rise in the Consumer Food Price Index, which measures the changes in retail prices of food products, increased to 4.05 per cent last month from 1.87 per cent in November 2021 and 3.41 per cent in December 2020.