Retail inflation for farm, rural workers rises to 5.59 percent, 5.94 percent in February

Retail inflation for farm workers and rural labourers rose to 5.59 percent and 5.94 percent respectively in February, mainly due to higher prices of certain food items, official data showed on Thursday.

Point to point rate of inflation based on the CPI-AL (consumer price index for agricultural labourers) and CPI-RL (consumer price index for rural labourers) stood at 5.49 percent and 5.74 percent in January 2022 and 2.67 per cent and 2.76 percent in February 2021, a labour ministry statement said.

Similarly, food inflation stood at 4.48 percent and 4.45 percent in February 2022, compared to 4.15 percent and 4.33 percent respectively in January 2022. It was 1.55 percent and 1.85 percent during the corresponding month of the previous year.

The All-India CPI-AL for February 2022 remained stationary at 1,095 points while CPI-RL increased by 1 point to stand at 1,106 points, compared to that in January 2022.

The major contribution towards the movement in general index of agricultural labourers and rural labourers came from clothing, bedding and footwear group to the extent of 0.54 and 1.10 points, respectively. 

This was mainly due to increase in prices of shirting cloth cotton (mill), saree cotton (mill), dhoti cotton (mill), plastic/leather chappal, among others.

The rise/fall in the index varied from state to state.

In case of agricultural labourers, it recorded an increase of 1 to 10 points in 14 states and a decrease of 4 to 9 points in five states, while it remained stationary for Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu with 1,292 points topped the index table, whereas Himachal Pradesh with 874 points stood at the bottom.

In case of rural labourers, it recorded an increase of 1 to 9 points in 13 states and a decrease of 2 to 10 points in six states, while it remained stationary for Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu with 1,278 points topped the index table, whereas Himachal Pradesh with 922 points stood at the bottom.

Among states, the maximum increase in the consumer price index number for agricultural labourers was experienced by Rajasthan (10 points) and for rural labourers by West Bengal (9 points). This was mainly due to rise in the prices of rice, wheat-atta, bajra, maize, fish, chilies green/dry, pan leaf, firewood, vegetables and fruits.

On the contrary, the maximum decrease in the consumer price index numbers for agricultural and rural labourers was experienced by Kerala (9 and 10 points respectively), mainly due to fall in the prices of rice, fish, onion, vegetables and fruits.