New Delhi: India’s retail inflation rose to 7 percent in August from 6.71 percent in the previous month due to a sharp rise in food prices, as per the government data released on Monday.
Retail Inflation has been above the Reserve Bank of India’s tolerance band for the eighth consecutive month. With headline inflation coming above 6 percent for the eighth month in a row, the RBI is on the brink of failing to meet its inflation mandate.
The RBI is mandated to keep inflation from 2-6 percent. The RBI is deemed to have failed in its mandate if the average inflation remains outside the 2-6 percent band for three consecutive quarters.
Retail food inflation surged to 7.62 percent in August as against 6.75 percent recorded in the previous month. There was a sharp jump in vegetable prices. Inflation in vegetables soared to 13.23 percent in August.
In August, the price rise was sharper in rural areas than the urban areas. Rural inflation surged to 7.15 percent in August from 6.8 percent in the previous month. Urban inflation jumped to 6.72 percent in August from 6.49 percent in July 2022, as per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics, and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
The Price data are collected from selected 1114 urban markets and 1181 villages covering all States/UTs through personal visits by field staff of the Field Operations Division of NSO, MoSPI on a weekly roster.
During the month of August 2022, NSO collected prices from 99.9 percent villages and 98.4 percent urban markets while the market-wise prices reported therein were 89.6 percent for rural and 92.8 percent for urban.