Soaring vegetable prices push up retail inflation to 10.03%

Soaring vegetable prices pushed up the retail inflation to double digits at 10.03% in August, up from 9.86% in the previous month. According to the CPI data released today, the highest rise in prices was for vegetables.

Soaring vegetable prices pushed up the retail inflation to double digits at 10.03% in August, up from 9.86% in the previous month.

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According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released on Tuesday, the highest rise in prices was for vegetables which recorded an increase of 20.79% during the month.

In the urban areas, the CPI rose to 10.19% during the month as compared to 10.10% in July. The retail price rise in rural areas worked out to be 9.90% during August up from 9.76% in the previous month.

The CPI for August, however, did not capture the impact of hike in diesel price announced by the government on September 13 to help the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to reduce their under recoveries.

The CPI for food and beverages section during August increased by 12.03%, clothing, bedding and footwear by 10.71% and fuel and light by 7.55%.

Among the individual segments, steep rise in retail price was noticed in case of oil and fats (18.41%), followed by sugar (17.51%) and pulses and products (16.04%).

The central bank had refrained from reducing the key pending rates despite persistent pressure from industry to cut them to promote sagging economic growth.