Retail inflation for the month of May increased marginally to 3.18 percent in June over the previous month, mainly due to rise in food prices, according to official data.

The retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 3.05 percent in May and 4.92 percent in June 2018. The retail inflation is on the rise since January this year.

As per the CPI data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the food inflation was 2.17 percent in June 2019, up from 1.83 percent in the preceding month.

Inflation in protein rich food items, like egg, meat and fish, was higher in June compared to the previous month. However, the rate of price rise in vegetables and fruits was slower.

The Reserve Bank of India mainly factors in the retail inflation while deciding the bi-monthly monetary policy.

Meanwhile, industrial production grew at 3.1 percent in May, mainly on account of improvement in power generation, according to official data released on Friday. This is a decline considering that the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had expanded by 3.8 percent in May 2018.

Mining growth was lower at 3.2 percent in May as against 5.8 percent in the corresponding month of the last fiscal. There was also a slowdown in the manufacturing sector, which grew at 2.5 percent in May compared to 3.6 percent a year ago. However, the expansion in power generation sector stood at 7.4 percent compared to 4.2 percent in the year-ago month.