Business Desk, ETV Bharat: Retail inflation breached the 5 per cent level in February mainly on account of higher food as well as fuel prices.
As per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) of the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Friday, the consumer price index (CPI) was pegged at 5.03 per cent last month in comparison to 4.06 per cent in January.
The rate of price rise in the food basket had gone up by 3.87 per cent last month as against 1.89 per cent in the preceding month.
Similarly, the ‘fuel and light’ category remained elevated at 3.53 per cent during February vis-a-vis 3.87 per cent in January.
Read:| 'Price of petrol and diesel is rising due to tax, can cause inflation'
Within the food basket, prices of ‘meat and fish’ and egg have gone up by a whopping 11.34 per cent and 11.13 per cent respectively in comparison to the prices that existed a year ago.
Notably, the ‘oil and fats’ segment witnessed the highest appreciation with a 20.78 per cent price rise last month as against the prices in February 2020.
Besides the spike in food and fuel prices, the ‘fuel and light’ category that tracks prices of LPG and electricity and ‘transport and communication’ category which has petrol and diesel as its components also gained prominently last month and fuelled the overall consumer price index further.
To recall, prices of petrol and diesel have increased 26 times in 2021 with the two auto fuels increasing by Rs 7.46 and Rs 7.60 per litre respectively so far this year.
Read:| Retail inflation for industrial worker eases to 3.15% in Jan
As a result, petrol has already reached Rs 100 per litre mark in parts of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and per litre diesel price is fast approaching the three-digit figure in major cities.
Andhra Pradesh leads the inflation chart
While the nationwide average inflation was pegged at 5.03 per cent, Andhra Pradesh leads the State/UTs chart with an 8.73 inflation rate followed by Tamil Nadu (7.21 per cent).
Chhattisgarh and Telangana that have recorded 6.43 inflation rate each were in the next place.
On the other hand, Rajasthan had the lowest inflation rate in February with 2.26 per cent, Jharkhand (2.66 per cent) and Delhi (2.94 per cent) were the two other states/UTs that recorded below 3 per cent inflation rate.
(Shravan Nune)
