New Delhi: There has been some decline in the retail inflation rate i.e. Consumer Price Index (CPI) in April. Today, on 12 May, the central government released the data on retail inflation. According to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, the retail inflation (CPI) was 4.29 percent in April due to a decrease in food prices as compared to 5.52 percent in March. This can be gauged by how important the inflation-related figures are that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) attaches importance to retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in determining monetary policies.
In the last month of the last financial year, March 2021, industrial production showed a growth of 22.4 percent. According to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), manufacturing sector output grew at a rate of 25.8 per cent in March 2021. Last year in March 2020, the lockdown imposed due to Corona epidemic had an impact on industrial production and IIP had fallen by 18.7 percent.
According to the data released by the government, there was a jump of 6.1 percent in mining output and 22.5 percent in power generation in March 2021. IIP declined by 8.6 percent in FY 2020-21, while it was 0.8 percent in 2019-20. In the last financial year, there was a decline in industrial production due to Corona epidemic. There was a 5.2 per cent increase in IIP in February last year.
According to the data released by the ministry, the food basket inflation in April was 2.02 per cent as against 4.87 per cent in the previous month of March 2021. According to Aditi Nair, chief economist at the credit rating agency ICRA, retail inflation was at a very high level in April 2020, as the lockdown enforced across the country then caused major supply disruptions. In comparison, CPI inflation reached a three-month low in April 2021. However, it was still higher than the estimates. However, according to Nair, there is not much impact of locally applicable restrictions on the prices of April 2021.
