April CPI Inflation Softens To 4.29 Per Cent; March IIP Spikes To 22 Percent

For the April month, retail inflation measured by CPI eased to 4.29% in comparison to
March figure of 5.52%, which was at a four-month high. This is primarily as prices moved higher at a slow pace during the last month due to benign food prices.

On the other hand, the index of industrial production (IIP) that is a measure of factory activity climbed to more than 22 per cent owing to low base effect for March month.

Nonetheless, for the full year 2020-21, there has been an 8.6 per cent contraction in industrial production as against 0.8 per cent decline in 2019-20.

During the review period i.e. March month, manufacturing sector output climbed 25.8 percent, while mining output and power generation also grew by 6.1 per cent and 22.5 per cent, respectively.

The core sector output that accounts for 40% of the IIP, also grew by 7%, due to low base effect.

For the first half of the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22, RBI estimated an inflation of 5.2 percent.

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