Retail inflation for July at 5.59%, June IIP at 13.6%

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Retail inflation eased to 5.59% in July mainly due to softening food prices, according to official data released on Thursday. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation was 6.26% in June and 6.73% in July 2020.

Inflation in the food basket slowed down to 3.96% in July from 5.15% in the previous month, according to the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

The RBI had earlier this month projected the CPI inflation at 5.7% during 2021-22 — 5.9% in the second quarter, 5.3% in third, and 5.8% in the fourth quarter of the fiscal, with risks broadly balanced. CPI inflation for Q1:2022-23 is projected at 5.1%.

Meanwhile, industrial output for June rose 13.6%, in a sign that the low base effect of the last year is waning.

Factory output, measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had contracted 16.6% in the same month last year and rose by 29.3% in May.

During April-June this year, the IIP grew by 45% against a contraction of 35.6% in the same quarter last year.