CPI Inflation in July Declines To 3.54%, Lowest Since August 2019; IIP Grows 4.2% in June

Retail Inflation in July 2024: India’s CPI inflation in July 2024 stood at 3.54 per cent, which is the lowest since August 2019, according to official data released on Monday, August 12. Meanwhile, India’s IIP records a growth of 4.2 per cent in June 2024.

In August 2019, the retail inflation had stood at 3.28 per cent.

In July 2023, the CPI inflation had stood at as high as 7.44 per cent, which was its 15-month high then. In the previous month of June 2024, India’s retail inflation had stood at 5.08%.

Inflation in the food basket also declined to 5.42 per cent in July, compared with 9.36 per cent in June, according to the latest data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO). In July 2023, it had stood at 11.51.

With this, the CPI inflation has come within the RBI’s target of 4 per cent.

“The CPI inflation came in higher than our expectations but broadly comfortable and most likely lower than the estimates inferred from the RBI’s upward revised 2Q figures. We continue to maintain that RBI will be on a status quo mode on rates for the October policy with likely shift in stance then. Scope for a shallow rate easing cycle could open from December but much will be data dependent both in India and the US,” Upasna Bhardwaj, chief economist at Kotak Mahindra Bank, said.

Industrial Production in June

India’s industrial production grew 4.2 per cent in June this year, mainly due to a good show by the mining and power sectors, according to official data released on Monday. The factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) witnessed a growth of 4 per cent in June 2023.

India’s Index of Industrial Production increased by 4.2 per cent in June 2024, an official statement said.

The data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed that the manufacturing sector’s output grew 2.6 per cent in June 2024 against 3.5 per cent in the year-ago month.

In June this year, mining production rose 10.3 per cent, and power output increased 8.6 per cent.

In the April-June quarter of this fiscal, the IIP grew 5.2 per cent compared to 4.7 per cent in the year-ago period.