CPI inflation reaches 6-month high

The Indian economy witnessed a hike in consumer price index (CPI) based inflation, which rose from 2.86% in March’19 to 2.92% in April’19, the fastest growth over the past six months. A major factor for this was the growth in the food and beverages segment, which accelerated to 1.38% in April compared with 0.66% in March. The fuel and light segment also saw inflation increasing to 2.56% from 2.34% during the same period. The clothing and footwear segment, however, saw inflation slowing down to 2.01% from 2.52% over the same period.

As a concomitant to the mounting food and fuel inflation, retail inflation also quickened to a six-month high of 2.92% in April’19 as per the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). This is in sharp contrast to January’19 when it plummeted to as low as 2.05%.