Higher food prices accelerated India’s May retail inflation to 3.05 percent from 2.99 percent in April, official data showed on Wednesday.
However, on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in May 2019 was lower than the corresponding period of last year when retail inflation stood at 4.87 percent.
According to data furnished by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) inflated to 1.83 percent during the month under review from an expansion of 1.10 percent in April 2019.
Product-wise, prices of vegetables, eggs, meat and fish pushed the retail inflation higher on a YoY basis. In contrast, decline in prices of ‘cereals and products’ and ‘milk and products’ sugar capped the overall food inflation.
Accordingly, the prices of vegetables increased 5.46 percent, meat and fish by 8.12 percent, eggs by 1.80 percent and pulses and its products by 2.13 percent.
On the other hand, prices of milk-based products 0.35 percent, cereals and its products 1.24 percent and sugar and confectionery 0.27 percent.
The sub-category of food and beverages recorded a 2.03 percent rise in last month over April 2018. Among the non-food categories, the fuel and light segment’s inflation increased to 2.48 percent in April.
