Consumer Price Index: Retail inflation rises to 4.81% in June, up from 4.31% in May

Consumer Price Index: Retail inflation rose to 4.81 per cent in June, up from 4.31 per cent in May, as per the data released on Wednesday.

The rise in retail inflation figure showed a three-month high, mainly due to rising prices of food items, according to the government data. 

June data shows that it is the fourth straight month when the Consumer Price Index-(CPI) based inflation has remained within the RBI's comfort zone of below 6 per cent.

Inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 4.31 per per (revised upward from 4.25 per cent) in May and 7 per cent in June 2022.

The previous high CPI was in March at 5.66 per cent.

Retail inflation jumps to 4.81% in June 2023 from 4.31% in May 2023: Government of India pic.twitter.com/vbkuVjsr0K

— ANI (@ANI) July 12, 2023

The government has asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ensure that retail inflation remains at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side. 

The RBI mainly factors in the CPI to arrive at its bi-monthly monetary policy decision. The next policy review is scheduled in early August.

As far as the details are concerned, inflation for food items stood at 4.49 per cent in June — which was higher than the 2.96 per cent recorded in May. The food basket accounts for nearly half of the CPI.

Last month, RBI had kept policy rates unchanged at 6.5 per cent and projected retail inflation for the current fiscal to average at 5.1 per cent, with June quarter inflation pegged at 4.6 per cent.