Inflation eases to 4.29%; base lifts IIP

Softer food prices spur April CPI-based inflation to 3-month low, March industrial output jumps 22.4%

India’s retail inflation slowed to a three-month low of 4.29% in April, from 5.52% in March, helped by softer food prices as well as a base effect. Separately, industrial output surged by 22.4% in March, lifted by the statistical impact of the year-earlier period’s Index of Industrial Production (IIP) being significantly lower on account of the national lockdown to contain COVID-19 imposed that month, data from the National Statistical Office showed on Wednesday. Retail food inflation eased to 2.02% in April, from 4.87% in the preceding month, with rural India recording a mere 1.45% food inflation compared with almost 4% in March. Overall rural retail inflation was 3.82%, slower than the 4.77% pace averaged in urban areas. The March IIP data showed manufacturing grew by 25.8% and electricity generation by 22.5% over the year-earlier period, when industrial activity had collapsed 18.7% in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown.