India’s June retail inflation eases sequentially, but still over 6% (Lead)

New Delhi, July 12 (IANS) India’s June retail inflation eased up on a sequential basis but still managed to remain above the 6 per cent threshold.According to the data furnished by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) slipped to 6.26 per cent last month from 6.30 per cent in May.Region wise, the CPI Urban rose to 6.37 per cent last month from 5.91 per cent in May, and the CPI Rural climbed to 6.16 per cent in June from 6.55 per cent in May.As per the NSO data, the Consumer Food Price Index increased to 5.15 per cent last month from 5.01 per cent in May.The CFPI readings measure the changes in retail prices of food products.The macro-economic data assumes significance as it is still above the retail inflation range of the Reserve Bank of India, which has set a range of 2-6 per cent for retail price based inflation.The high retail inflation reduces the chance of the RBI to further loosen up the monetary policy.In terms of CPI YoY inflation rate, pulses and products’ prices jumped higher by 10.01 per cent in June 2021.Meat and fish prices rose 4.83 per cent, eggs became dearer by 19.35 per cent and the overall price of food and beverages category was up 5.58 per cent.However, vegetable prices declined by 0.70 per cent.Besides the official data, the inflation rate for fuel and light was at 12.68 per cent.–IANSrv/sn/vd