Retail Inflation Climbs Further To 7.61% In October; IIP Grows 0.2% in Sept

Retail inflation remained above 7 percent for the second consecutive month in October. Official data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Thursday showed that India's retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), climbed 7.61 percent in October when compared to 7.27 percent in September.

Meanwhile, a separate data released showed that the country's factory output, measured in terms of Index of Industrial Production (IIP), witnessed a growth of 0.2 percent on-year to 123.2 during the month of September.

CPI has remained above RBI's upper tolerance level of 6 percent for the seventh straight month, diminishing hopes of monetary easing by the central bank anytime soon.

Food prices continued to remain high, that is past 11 percent mark in October, due to supply constraints caused by unseasonal rains. Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) or the inflation in the food basket climbed to 11.07 percent from 10.68 percent in September.

Onion prices had soared past Rs 100 per kg towards the end of October.

Hope rests on the arrival of winter crop in the market and government measures taken to cool off onion prices.

In its October policy review, RBI said, "A bumper rabi crop, moderate increases in minimum support prices (MSPs) for kharif crops, a normal monsoon, sizeable buffer stocks and good water storage levels in major reservoirs augur well for the inflation outlook."