Retail inflation for industrial workers eased to 5.53 per cent in February compared to 5.91 per cent in January due to softening of price of food items.
"The year-on-year inflation measured in terms of Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) stood at 5.53 per cent in February, 2016 compared to 5.91 per cent for the previous month and 6.3 per cent in the corresponding month of the previous year," a Labour Ministry statement said.
According to the statement, the food inflation stood at 6.18 per cent in February against 7.61 in the previous month and 7.42 per cent in the corresponding month previous year.
The all India CPI-IW for February, 2016 decreased by 2 points and pegged at 267 points. On one month percentage change, it decreased by 0.74 per cent between January 2016 and February 2016 when compared with the decrease of 0.39 per cent between the same two months a year ago.
The maximum downward pressure to change in the current index came from Food group contributing 2.21 percentage points to the total change.
At item level, rice, arhar dal, masur dal, moong dal, urd dal, groundnut oil, mustard oil, poultry (chicken), eggs, garlic, onion, vegetables and fruit items and flowers are responsible for decrease in the index.
However, this decrease was checked by the wheat and wheat atta, fish, goat meat, milk, tea, sugar, cigarette, tailoring charges etc. Putting upward pressure on the index.
