Retail Inflation Eased to 4.06% in Jan; Industrial Production Saw 1% Growth in Dec: Govt

Retail inflation eased to 4.06 per cent in January, mainly on account of a decline in vegetable prices, as per government data released on Friday. The inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 4.59 per cent in December 2020.

The rate of price rise in the food basket was 1.89 per cent in January, significantly down from 3.41 per cent in December, revealed the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO). The Reserve Bank, which mainly factors in the retail inflation while arriving at its monetary policy, has been asked to keep CPI inflation at 4 per cent (+,- 2 per cent).

The country’s industrial production grew by 1 per cent in December, official data showed on Friday. According to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data, the manufacturing sector output grew by 1.6 per cent in December 2020.

Mining output declined by 4.8 per cent, while power generation grew 5.1 per cent in December 2020. The IIP had grown by 0.4 per cent in December 2019.

Industrial production has been hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic since March last year when IIP contracted by 18.7 per cent in the month.

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