Retail inflation rises marginally; industrial production rises 3.1%
Industrial production has been hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic since March last year when it had contracted 18.7%
Retail inflation inched up to 4.48% in October due to an uptick in food prices, government data showed on Friday. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation was at 4.35% in September and 7.61% in October 2020.
According to the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), inflation in food basket rose to 0.85% in October, compared to 0.68% in the preceding month.
The Reserve Bank, which mainly factors in CPI-based inflation while arriving at its bi-monthly monetary policy, has been tasked by the government to keep it at 4%, with a tolerance band of 2% on either side.
In another set of figures released by the NSO, industrial production 3.1% in September, according to official data released on Friday.
IIP grew 23.5% in April to September this year
As per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data, the manufacturing sector’s output surged 2.7% in September 2021. In September, the mining output climbed 8.6%, and power generation increased 0.9%. The IIP had grown by one per cent in September 2020.
During April-September this year, the IIP grew 23.5% against a 20.8% contraction in the same period last year.
Industrial production has been hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic since March last year when it had contracted 18.7%. It shrank 57.3% in April 2020 due to a decline in economic activities in the wake of the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus infections.