Retail inflation for industrial workers rises to 6.97% in May

Retail inflation for industrial workers rose to 6.97 per cent in May from 6.33 per cent in April this year, mainly due to higher prices of certain food items, according to an official statement.

"Year-on-year inflation for the month (May) stood at 6.97 per cent compared to 6.33 per cent for the previous month and 5.25 per cent during the corresponding month a year before," the Ministry of Labour and Employment said.

Food inflation stood at 7.92 per cent against 7.05 per cent in the previous month and 5.26 per cent during May 2021.

The All-India CPI-IW (consumer price index-industrial workers) for May, 2022 increased by 1.3 points to 129 points.

The maximum upward pressure in current index came from the Food and Beverages group, which contributed 0.79 percentage points to the total change, it said.

At item level, tomato, potato, soyabean oil, sunflower oil, buffalo milk, fish, chicken, cooking gas, kerosene oil, bus fares, allopathic medicines, telephone charges, among others, were responsible for the rise in index.

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However, this increase was largely checked by items like onion, bitter gourd, lemon, mango, watermelon, pan leaf, petrol for vehicles etc, which put downward pressure on the index, the ministry said.

Coimbatore recorded the maximum increase of 5.2 points, followed by Salem and Jalandhar with 4.8 and 4.2 points, respectively.

Among others, six centres recorded increase between 3 to 3.9 points, 19 centres between 2 to 2.9 points, 22 centres between 1 to 1.9 points and 24 centres between 0.1 to 0.9 points.

In contrast, Yamunanagar recorded a maximum decrease of 1.5 points, followed by Delhi with 1.2 points. Nine centres recorded decrease between 0.1 to 0.9 points. Rest three centres' indices remained stationary.

The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, has been compiling the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers every month on the basis of retail prices collected from 317 markets spread over 88 industrially important centres in the country.