Retail inflation for industrial workers eases marginally in Aug

Thanks mainly to lower prices of certain food items, retail inflation for industrial workers eased to 6.91 per cent in August from 7.54 per cent in July this year. Food inflation stood at 10.06 per cent in August against 11.87 per cent in the previous month (July 2023) and 6.46 per cent during the corresponding month (August 2022) a year ago.

At item level, wheat, poultry/chicken, eggs-hen, cotton seed oil, apple, brinjal, cauliflower, chillies green, ginger, lady's finger, tomato, electricity domestic, kerosene oil, etc. are responsible for the fall in index. However, this decrease was checked by Rice, Arhar Dal, Onion, Cumin Seed/Jira, Cooked Meal, Tailoring Charges, Books School/ITI, Private Tutor/Coaching Centre Fees, Tuition and other Fees-College and School/ITI, Stationery, etc. putting upward pressure on the index. 

"Year-on-year inflation for the month (August) stood at 6.91 per cent compared to 7.54 per cent for the previous month and 5.85 per cent during the corresponding month a year before," a Labour Bureau statement said. The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour & Employment, has been compiling the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) every month on the basis of retail prices collected from 317 markets spread over 88 industrially important centres in the country. 

The index is compiled for 88 centres and All-India and is released on the last working day of the succeeding month. The All-India CPI-IW for August 2023 decreased by 0.5 points and stood at 139.2 points. It was 139.7 points in July 2023. The maximum downward pressure in the current index came from Food & Beverages group contributing 0.71 percentage point to the total change.