India's Retail Inflation Eases to 4.31% in January 2025.

Economy Business

According to data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI), India's Retail Inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), fell to 4.31% in January 2025, marking a 5-month low. This represents a notable decrease from 5.22% in December 2024 and 5.1% in January 2024.


      - The decline in food prices significantly contributed to the reduction in inflation, with food inflation dropping to 6.02% in January 2025, compared to 8.39% in December 2024.

      - Rural inflation stood at 4.64% in January 2025, while urban inflation was slightly lower at 3.87%. Food inflation in urban areas increased by 5.5%, while rural areas saw a higher food inflation rate of 6.3%.

      - The prices of essential items such as vegetables, eggs, pulses, cereals, education, health, and clothing saw reductions.

Main Point :-   (i) Retail inflation is the rate at which the prices of goods and services purchased by consumers rise over time, serving as a key indicator of the cost of living, typically measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks the average price changes for a fixed basket of goods and services paid by urban consumers.

      (ii) In January 2025, vegetable prices saw a significant drop in inflation, falling to 11.3% from 26.6% in December 2024, contributing to the overall decrease in food inflation. Items like coconut oil (54.20%), potato (49.61%), and coconut (38.71%) recorded the highest year-on-year (YOY) inflation, while products like jeera (-32.25%), ginger (-30.92%), dry chilies (-11.27%), brinjal (-9.94%), and LPG (-9.29%) saw the lowest YOY inflation.

(iii) Among Indian states, Kerala (6.76%), Odisha (6.05%), and Chhattisgarh (5.85%) reported the highest inflation rates, while Delhi (2.02%) and Telangana (2.22%) recorded the lowest. Additionally, the weakening of the Indian rupee (INR) led to increased costs for imported goods, particularly edible oils, which saw a 33-month high inflation rate of 15.6%.

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