Trade increase eases to 9.87 per cent in December

 
Retail price rises declined to 9.87 per cent in December, the buck in three months, on the flipside of self-control in vegetable cost rise, regime data showed on Monday.

Retail price rises based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 11.16 per cent in November.

Increase for food and beverages eased to 12.76 per cent in December from 14.72 per cent recorded in the earlier month, according to data at large by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Inflation may ease to 6.5% in December: Rangarajan

 
Mumbai: A fall in vegetable prices is likely to ease headline inflation and retail inflation to 6.5 percent and 9.20 percent respectively in December, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C Rangarajan said on Saturday.

"Some of the things that have really pushed up inflation are vegetables like onion prices, which have crashed in December. Therefore when December number comes in mid January, we will see retail inflation coming down by 2-2.5 percentage from the current level of 11 percent or so. There could be a decline in wholesale price index ... Could be the order of 1 percentage," Rangarajan told reporters on the sidelines of the silver jubilee celebration of Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research.

Wholesale price-based inflation (WPI) accelerated to 14- month high of 7.52 percent in November, while retail inflation quickened to eight-month high of 11.24 percent during the month.

Going forward, Rangarajan said, the declining trend in inflation will continue and WPI may ease to 6.5 percent by March-end.

"The RBI has estimated WPI to be around 6.5 percent by March end. That is the number we are looking at. We will see a decline in December and perhaps it will continue," he said.

Quoting an econometric study, the former RBI governor said the threshold inflation level is around six percent, but there is a need to look at the slightly lower as the level is much higher than what many other countries in the world... advanced countries treat as the acceptable level of inflation.

Rangarajan says inflation may ease to 6.5 per cent in December

 
A fall in vegetable prices is likely to ease headline inflation and retail inflation to 6.5 per cent and 9.20 per cent respectively in December, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C Rangarajan said on Sunday.

"Some of the things that have really pushed up inflation are vegetables like onion prices, which have crashed in December. Therefore when December number comes in mid January, we will see retail inflation coming down by 2-2.5 percentage from the current level of 11 per cent or so. There could be a decline in wholesale price index ... could be the order of 1 percentage," Rangarajan told reporters on the sidelines of the silver jubilee celebration of Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research.

Wholesale price-based inflation (WPI) accelerated to 14-month high of 7.52 per cent in November, while retail inflation quickened to eight-month high of 11.24 per cent during the month.

Going forward, Rangarajan said, the declining trend in inflation will continue and WPI may ease to 6.5 per cent by March-end.

"The RBI has estimated WPI to be around 6.5 per cent by March end. That is the number we are looking at. We will see a decline in December and perhaps it will continue," he said.

Sensex trading flat on IIP, inflation data

 
Extending its losing streak, the BSE benchmark Sensex on Wednesday fell 53 points in early trade on sustained selling by funds after weak cues from CPI and IIP data .

The retail inflation measured in terms of consumer price index (CPI) rose to 10.09 per cent in October, entering double digits after seven months. Meanwhile, industrial production grew by two per cent in September, mainly on account of better performance by power and mining sectors.

The 30-share index fell by 53.97 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 20,227.94 in first five minutes of trading. The Sensex has lost 957.45 points in past six sessions.

 At 10: 42 am, the Sensex was trading 40 points higher at 20,318 points.

Stocks of power, capital goods, metal, consumer durable and banking sectors declined due to profit booking.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 19.90 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 5,998.15.

At 10:42 am, the Nifty was trading 6 points higher at 1024 levels.

Brokers said sustained selling by funds amid weakening trend on other Asian bourses mainly influenced the trading sentiment. In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei Index was down 0.09 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 1.31 per cent in early trade. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.21 per cent down in Tuesday's  trade.

Inflation for factory workers slips to 10.75% in August

New Delhi: Retail inflation for industrial workers eased marginally to 10.75 percent in August as compared to 10.85 percent in the previous month, mainly on account of lower prices of fruits, vegetables and edible oil.

However, retail inflation measured in terms of all India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) during August was higher than 10.31 recorded in the same month last year.

"The year-on-year inflation measured by monthly CPI-IW stood at 10.75 percent for August, 2013 as compared to 10.85 percent for the previous month and 10.31 percent during the corresponding month of the previous year," a Labour Ministry statement said.

"... The food inflation stood at 13.91 percent against 14.10 percent of the previous month and 12.20 percent during the corresponding month of the previous year," it stated.

The largest upward pressure to the change in current index came from food group, contributing 1.58 percentage points to the total change.

At item level, rice, wheat, wheat atta, goat meat, dairy milk, milk (cow & buffalo), onions, chillies, tea (readymade), firewood, doctors' fee, private tuition fee, secondary school books, petrol, tailoring charges are responsible for the rise in index.

However, this was compensated to some extent by groundnut oil, fish, fresh vegetables and fruit items, putting downward pressure on the index.

According to a press release, all-India CPI-IW for August rose by 2 points, and pegged at 237. On a one-month percentage change, it increased by 0.85 percent between July and August compared with 0.94 percent between the same two months a year ago.

At centre level, Chindwara recorded the highest increase of 8 points each followed by Jalpaiguri and Siliguri (7), Durgapur (10) and Ranchi, Hatia, Nagpur, Kolkata, Asansol and Tiruchirapally (6 each).

Among others, 5 points rise was registered in 8 centres, 4 points in 6 centres, 3 points in 12 centres, 2 points in 13 centres and 1 point in 19 centres.

On the contrary, Goa reported a decline of 5 points, followed by Ernakulam, Quilon and Surat (2 each) and 3 other centres by 1 point each. Rest of the 6 centres'indices remained stationary.

The indices of 39 centres are above All-India Index and other 38 centres' indices are below national average. The index of Tiruchirapally centre remained at par with all-India index.