Retail inflation eased to 6.69 per cent in August, despite rising food prices

(PTI New delhi date. Monday, September 14, 2020

Inflation eased to 6.69 per cent in August. The month of August saw a modest decline in inflation despite an increase in food items. Meanwhile, the government has revised retail inflation for July from 6.93 per cent to 6.73 per cent. Food inflation stood at 9.62 per cent in July. Food inflation eased to 9.05 per cent in August, according to Consumer Price Index (CPI) data.

It may be mentioned that the Reserve Bank of India takes retail inflation into consideration while formulating monetary policy. The government has ordered the RBI to keep retail inflation around four per cent. Wholesale price index-based inflation figures were also released today. In August, it was 0.16 per cent.

August inflation is at a five-month high. From April to July, inflation was negative. Inflation-based inflation stood at minus 1.57 per cent in April and minus 3.37 per cent in May. It was minus 1.81 per cent in June and minus 0.58 per cent in July.

Inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), was 0.42 per cent in March. S&P Global Ratings has projected a 9 per cent slowdown in India's economic growth for the current financial year 2020-21. Earlier, S&P had projected a five per cent slowdown in India's economic growth.

Corona cases in India continue to rise, the US-based rating agency said in a statement. Which will not increase private investment and spending in the long run. Last week, two other global rating agencies, Moody's and Fitch, also projected India's economic growth to slow to 11.5 per cent and 10.5 per cent, respectively.