India CPI Inflation Rate September, IIP Growth August 2022: India’s retail inflation, which is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose to a five-month high of 7.41 per cent in the month of September, up from 7.00 per cent in August. Separately, India’s factory output, measured through the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), witnessed a contraction of (-)0.8 per cent in August, two separate data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed on Wednesday.
This is the ninth consecutive time that the CPI print has come above the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper margin of 6 per cent. The government has mandated the central bank to maintain retail inflation at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side for a five-year period ending March 2026.
A recent Reuters poll of economists had forecast the September CPI to spike to 7.30 per cent.
CPI data is primarily factored in by the RBI while preparing their bi-monthly monetary policy. On September 30, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) hiked the repo rate by 50 basis points (bps) to 5.90 per cent. So far in this financial year, the MPC has raised the key interest rate by 190 bps in a bid to check the raging inflation. However, despite their move, retail inflation continues to remain above the upper tolerance level.
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