New Delhi Sept 13: On the back of a surge in food prices, India’s retail inflation climbed to 7% in August, 2022 adding pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to calm down prices. Retail inflation had eased to 6.71% in July from 7.01% in the previous month. It has stayed above RBI’s upper target band of 6% for several months now.
As per the data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Program Implementation (Mo- SPI) on Monday, food inflation in August rose to 7.62% as against 6.69% in the previous month. The data showed rural inflation in the month of August was higher at 7.15% as compared to 6.72% urban inflation. Commenting on the August inflation number, Vivek Rathi, Director-Research Knight Frank India said that rise in food prices, domestic fuel price level and pressure on the Indian currency continue to pose near term threat on the inflation trajectory.“These will also guide the upcoming monetary policy action, which has so far already witnessed three policy rate hikes and liquidity tightening measures over last 5 months,” Rathi said. In a bid to keep inflation in check, the RBI has increased the benchmark lending rate by 140 basis points (100 basis points equal to one percentage point) since May this year.
