India’s Retail Inflation Rose To 3.21% In February, Higher Than January's 2.75%

India’s retail inflation rose to 3.21 percent in February compared to 2.75 percent recorded in January, showed government data released on March 12. With this, the inflation figure continued to remain in the range of 2-6 percent of the Reserve Bank of India.

While inflation in rural areas stood at 3.37 percent, the urban reading for the month came in at 3.02 percent. This is the second time that retail inflation data has been released based on the new series with 2024 as the base year.

Hence, the February inflation cannot be compared to the inflation figure of last year. Last year’s inflation of February was calculated with 2012 as the base year.

Food inflation in February stood at 3.47 percent which is higher than the 2.13 percent rise in the previous year, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said in a release Thursday.

Food inflation in rural areas was at 3.46 percent while urban food inflation stood marginally higher at 3.48 percent.

Inflation in electricity, gas and other fuels rose marginally during the month at 0.14 percent. With the United States-Israel-Iran war crunching oil and gas supply, the inflation figure for March for electricity, gas and other fuels may be higher.

At the state level, Telangana had the highest inflation at 5 percent, followed by 3.53 percent in Rajasthan, 3.50 percent in Kerala, 3.45 percent in Andhra Pradesh and 3.44 percent in West Bengal.

With the change in the base year to 2024, the weightage of food declined below 40 percent for the first time while the share of non-food categories increased to over 60 percent.

The changes were made after the latest household consumption expenditure survey showed significant changes in the consumption pattern of the country.

March inflation figures will be released on April 13 or the next working day in case the 13th is a holiday, the ministry said in the statement.

Inflation numbers are released with a delay of about two weeks.