Retail inflation rises to 6.21 per cent in Oct, breaches RBI’s tolerance limit

India’s retail inflation rose to 6.21% in October 2024, compared to 4.87% in October 2023 due to rising vegetable prices. This crossed the inflation target limit of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The corresponding inflation rates for rural and urban areas was 6.68% and 5.62%, respectively.
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The RBI had kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5% this month. Its inflation target remained at 4% with a 2% margin of difference on either side.
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The All India Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) showed food inflation was at 10.87% for October, 2024, with corresponding rates for rural and urban areas being 10.69% and 11.09%, respectively.
This was 6.61% during the same month of the previous year.
Vegetables saw the highest inflation among all the food items at a staggering 42.18% in October 2024, compared to October 2023.
Urban areas showed a slightly higher inflation of vegetable prices at 42.63%, compared to 41.94% for rural areas.
This was followed by oils and fats, which showed an inflation of 9.51% and fruits, which saw an inflation of 8.43%.
Only spices saw a fall in prices of 7.01%.
Chhattisgarh had the highest inflation at 8.84% in October 2024, compared to October 2023. This was followed by Bihar at 7.83% and Odisha at 7.51%
Delhi had the least inflation at 4.01%, followed by West Bengal at 4.63% and Maharashtra at 5.38%.
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