Last year in December 2020, the rate of growth of industrial production in the country was 1 percent. This figure was released on Friday 12 February. According to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data, manufacturing sector output grew by 1.6 percent in December 2020 last year. Mining output declined by 4.8 percent in December 2020, while power generation grew by 5.1 percent. There was a 0.4 percent increase in IIP in December 2019. Industrial production has been severely affected due to the Corona epidemic in 2020 last year. In March last year, IIP had fallen by 18.7 percent.
According to data released on Friday by the National Statistical Office (NSO), retail inflation was 4.06 percent in January 2021 due to the fall in vegetable prices. According to government data, the inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 4.59 percent in December 2020. The rate of price rise in the food basket was 1.89 percent in January 2021 as against 3.41 percent in December 2020 for the previous month. The central bank RBI has been asked to keep CPI inflation at 4 per cent (2 per cent more or less) to determine its monitoring policy. The RBI also consults retail inflation for monetary policies.
