Indian Inflation

The Congress on Thursday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's entire focus is not on reducing inflation, but on showing low inflation figures, and said a government that is focused on propaganda and data manipulation is not one that can be relied on to work for people's welfare. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said India has seen ten years of a "Modi-made inflation", created and fostered by the government's poor policy-making. "The prime minister's entire focus is not on reducing inflation, but on showing low inflation figures. The government is now concertedly attempting to manipulate the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Wholesale Price Index (WP1) figures to show inflation as being under control, even as the ground reality is that the common man is facing non-stop price rise," Ramesh said in a statement. He said price rise has been particularly high for food, fuel, and items of daily use, and it has placed a heavy burden on India's working ..

Wholesale price inflation rose to a 4-month high of 2.36 per cent in October as prices of food items, especially vegetables, and manufactured goods turned dearer, as per the government data released on Thursday. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation was 1.84 per cent in September 2024. It was (-) 0.26 per cent in October, last year. As per the data, inflation in food items shot up to 13.54 per cent in October, as against 11.53 per cent in September. This was led by 63.04 per cent inflation in vegetables, as against 48.73 per cent in September. Inflation in potato and onion remained high at 78.73 per cent and 39.25 per cent, respectively, in October. Fuel and power category witnessed deflation of 5.79 per cent in October, against a deflation of 4.05 per cent in September. In manufactured items, inflation was 1.50 per cent in October, as against 1 per cent in the previous month. The month of October witnessed the second consecutive month of rise in WPI inflation print. WPI

Annual retail inflation as measured by the CPI likely rose a second straight month to 5.81% in October, the highest since August 2023, says Reuters poll

Food prices, which account for nearly half of the retail inflation, rose 5.66 per cent in August, compared with a 5.42 per cent climb in the previous month

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Wholesale tomato prices crossed Rs 150 per kilogram in markets last week. A few weeks ago, tomatoes were being sold at Rs 15 to 20 per kg

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Predictions ranged from 4.40% to 5.80%, with respondents expecting inflation to remain below the RBI's 6.00% upper tolerance limit for the second consecutive month

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The Reserve Bank's decision to hike repo rate by 25 basis points was on expected lines but the policy focuses more on inflation despite the recent moderation in the number, bankers said on Wednesday. "Repo hike of 25 basis points is on the expected lines. Evidently, the policy is focused more on managing inflation, even though the recent retail inflation readings are showing signs of moderation," industry lobby Indian Banks Association's Chairman A K Goel, who also heads state-owned Punjab National Bank, said in a statement. It can be noted that the last two readings of the headline inflation have come within the upper tolerance band of the central bank and some analysts, including in-house economists at the country's largest lender SBI were expecting a pause on rate hike. With the latest hike, the repo rate is at 6.50 per cent. SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara said the continuing strength in US job data has made monetary policy making into a delicate balancing act for emerging economies

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