Retail inflation eases to four-month low of 5.22% in December 2024

India’s retail inflation eased a bit to a four-month low of 5.22% in December 2024 from 5.5% in November 2024, with food inflation cooling marginally from 9.04% in November to 8.4% last month, the National Statistics Office said on Monday (January 13, 2025).

The top five items showing highest year-on-year Inflation at All India level in December 2024 are Peas (89.12%), Potato (68.23%), Garlic (58.17%), coconut oil (45.41%) and Cauliflower (39.42%), the NSO pointed out.

With December’s inflation print, India’s Consumer Price Inflation has averaged 5.63% in the third quarter of 2024-25, just a little under the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) updated estimated of 5.7% released last month. While the RBI has projected inflation to cool to 4.5% in the ongoing quarter, the latest inflation number gives it little room to effect an interest rate cut in the monetary policy review scheduled in early February, even as a growth slump has spurred sharp calls from government and industry to fast-track rate reductions.

Overall consumer prices were 4.6% higher in December for urban residents compared to 4.9% in November, while rural consumers faced a steeper price rise of 5.8%, just marginally below the 5.95% recorded in the previous month.

On a month-on-month basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was down 0.56% in December while the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) was 1.5% below November’s number. Urban consumers saw a much more marked decline here as well, with a 0.62% dip in their CPI and a 1.73% fall in the CFPI. By contrast, the rural CPI was down 0.5% and food prices dipped 1.3% sequentially.

Pulses prices rose 3.8%, relative to 5.4% in November, marking the slowest inflation in over two years. However, other protein sources such as eggs (6.85%) and meat and fish (5.3%) reported higher inflation in December, while milk price rise was virtually unchanged at 2.8%.

While food inflation had also cooled to a four-month low, marking the second month of deceleration from October’s 15-month high of 10.9%, some critical food items reported faster upticks in prices. This included edible oils and fats, whose prices rose 14.6%, up from November’s 30-month peak inflation of 13.3%.

Vegetables inflation moderated at a slow pace from 29.3% in November to 26.6%, while Fruit prices accelerated again by 8.5% after easing to a 7.7% pace in November. Cereals inflation stood at 6.5% in December, from 6.9% in the previous month.

Among non-food items, personal care and effects’ inflation eased a tad to 9.7% from 10.4% in November, while education inflation was unchanged at 3.9%. Health inflation inched up fractionally to 4.05% in December.

Seven of the 22 States (including the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir), for which the NSO calculates monthly inflation rates, recorded a price rise of over 6% or beyond the central bank’s upper threshold for inflation targeting. In November, just six States were over this mark. In all, ten States reported inflation higher than the national average.

The highest inflation was reported in Chhatisgarh for the second straight month, of 7.63%, followed again by Bihar (7.4%) and Odisha (7%). Kerala’s inflation quickened to 6.36% from 6.3% in November, while it eased marginally for Uttar Pradesh to 6.3% from 6.6% in the preceding month.

Delhi recorded the lowest inflation yet again at just 2.5%, compared to 2.65% in November, while other States that witnessed the lowest price rise included Telangana (3.14%), Maharashtra (4.2%), Andhra Pradesh (4.3%), Rajasthan (4.44%), Jharkhand (4.5%), and West Bengal (4.8%).

Source : Dairynews7x7 Jan 13th 2025 The Hindu