India's January retail inflation rises to over 6%; crosses RBI's tolerance limit

Higher food prices, as well as rising commodity costs, lifted India's January 2022 retail inflation on a sequential as well as year-on-year basis, official data showed on Monday.

As per the data furnished by the National Statistical Office, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to 6.01 per cent last month from 5.66 per cent in December 2021.

Similarly, on a YoY basis, the rise in last month's retail inflation was faster than the 4.06 per cent increase in prices recorded for January 2021.

The trend assumes significance as retail inflation rate crossed the target range of the Reserve Bank of India.

The central bank has a CPI target range of 2-to-6 per cent. As per the NSO data, the rate of rise in the Consumer Food Price Index, which measure the changes in retail prices of food products, increased to 5.43 per cent last month from 4.05 per cent in December 2021.