Food Prices ease
The headline CPI inflation (combined) for January 2014 eased to 24- month low level at 8.79% (y-o-y), marking an deceleration from 9.87% (y-o-y) seen in previous month. Moreover, the index for December decreased to 0.43% (m-o-m) from 1% (m-o-m) seen previous month. The fall in index of food category, especially vegetables helped the CPI inflation to ease.The falling vegetable prices helped the combined CPI to record single digit growth. Vegetables have mainly contributed to surge in inflation recently. Thus, the decline in vegetables prices in January 2014 helped in decline in overall inflation in January 2014. The vegetables price fell to 13.26% from 38.76% in December. Among food items, protein-rich products saw an uptick in inflation in January. Prices of the non-vegetarian items eased by 11.69% in January 2014 compared to 12.64% in December. The rate of price rise in milk products stood increased slightly at 9.82% in January from 9.82% in the previous month. Meanwhile, the price rise of clothing, bedding and footwear products eased from 9.25% in December to 9.18% in January.
The rate of price rise in rural area fell to single digits at 9.43%, substantially down from 10.49% in December. In urban areas also, the inflation eased significantly to 8.09% from 9.11%. The corresponding food and beverage inflation rate for rural and urban areas eased to 10.67% and 8.20%, respectively in January 2014 from 12.76% and 11.06% seen in previous month.
For January 2014, the state wise biggest uptick, in the rural segment, was noted by Mizoram (2.05%, m-o-m) followed by Andaman & Nicobar Islands (0.79% m-o-m) while biggest fall was recorded in Jharkhand (2.91% m-o-m). For January 2014, the state wise biggest upside, in the urban segment, was noted by Nagaland (0.61%, m-o-m), while the biggest fall was noted by Andaman & Nicobar Islands (1.68% m-o-m).
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