India's retail inflation rises to 6.93 percent in July

Source: Xinhua | 2020-08-14

India's retail inflation rises to 6.93 percent in July, data released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation Thursday said.

"The inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) in July this year is 6.93 per cent," the government data said. "It was 6.23 percent in June."

The food inflation meanwhile surged to nearly 10 percent in July this year from 8.72 per cent in June.

"The Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) surged to 9.62 percent in the month of July. The CFPI for June too was 8.72 percent," the data showed.

The increase in food items has been attributed to disruptions in the supply lines due to partial lockdowns in many states across the country in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

India's central banking institution - Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which tracks consumer inflation primarily to formulate its monetary policy kept the repo rate unchanged last week at four percent and maintained its accommodative stance. Repo rate is the rate at which RBI lends funds to commercial banks.