Retail inflation for industrial workers eased marginally to 5.33 per cent in July compared to 5.98 per cent in the same month last year, mainly due to lower prices of certain food items.
“Year-on-year inflation based on all-items stood at 5.33 per cent for July 2020 as compared to 5.06 per cent for the previous month (June 2020) and 5.98 per cent during the corresponding month (July 2019) of the previous year,” a labour ministry statement said.
The food inflation stood at 6.38 per cent in July, compared to 5.49 per cent in the previous month and 4.78 per cent during the same period a year ago, it added.
The All-India CPI-IW (consumer price index for industrial workers) for July 2020 increased by 4 points to 336. On one-month percentage change, it increased by 1.20 per cent between June and July 2020 compared to 0.95 per cent rise in the same period the previous year.
The data showed that the maximum upward movement in the current index came from housing group, contributing (+) 2.28 percentage points to the total change.
The food index further accentuated the overall index by (+) 1.77 percentage points.
At item level, wheat atta, mustard oil, milk (Buffalo), green chillies, brinjal, gourd, palak, parval, potato, tomato, snack saltish, cooking gas, firewood, bus fare, petrol, tailoring charges, etc are responsible for the increase in index.
However, this rise was checked by rice, fish fresh, goat meat, poultry (chicken), lemon, etc, putting downward pressure on the index.
At centre level, Jamshedpur recorded the maximum increase of 36 points followed by Haldia (23 points), Tiruchirapally (13 points), Kodarma and Faridabad (12 points each), Srinagar (11 points), Lucknow and Doom-Dooma Tinsukia (10 points each).
Among others, 8 points increase was observed in 2 centres, followed by 7 points in 5 centres, 6 points in 8 centres, 5 points in 7 centres, 4 points in 10 centres, 3 points in 9 centres, 2 points in 9 centres and 1 point in another 9 centres.