New Delhi
There is good news for India on the inflation front. On Thursday, the government released inflation rate figures for November, which is a relief for the people of the country. In fact, in the month of October, retail inflation had increased rapidly and crossed 6 percent, but in the month of November it has fallen to 5.48 percent. The government said that inflation has come down due to softening of prices of food items, especially vegetables. This is the first good news for Sanjay Malhotra, who took over as RBI Governor on Wednesday. It is noteworthy that RBI has set a target of keeping the inflation rate in the range of 4-6 percent and in November it has again come down to below 6 percent.
Inflation was at 14 month high in October
India’s retail inflation had increased to 6.21% last October. Which was 5.49% in September. It was believed that inflation rate had increased due to high food prices during the festive season. This was the first time since August 2023 that inflation crossed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s tolerable limit of 6%. Inflation in September crossed the RBI’s medium-term target of 4% for the first time since July, reaching 5.49%. This means that a continuous increase in inflation is being seen, which is affecting the pockets of common people.
Prices of vegetables and pulses decreased
If we look at the CPI data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the inflation rate of food items came down to 9.04 percent in November, which had reached 10.87 percent in the month of October. Whereas last year in November 2023 it was 8.70 percent. According to NSO, during November 2024, there has been a big decline in the prices of vegetables, pulses and food products, sugar and sweets, fruits, eggs, milk and spices. The inflation rate of grains was recorded at 6.88 percent in the month of November, which was 6.94 percent in October. If we talk about pulses, the inflation rate on these came down from 7.43 percent to 5.41 percent.
Softening in July-August, then there was a surge
Let us tell you that CPI based retail inflation was at an average level of 3.6 percent in the month of July-August, but then it jumped to 5.5 percent in the month of September and in the month of October, breaking the limit set by RBI, it reached 6.21 percent.
